A TD for Dublin Bay North has said the State should offer a formal apology to Captain James Kelly and Colonel Michael Hefferon in relation to the 1970s Arms Trial.
Sean Haughey, who is the son of the late taoiseach Charles Haughey, was speaking on RTÉ's Liveline on the 50th anniversary of the Arms Trial.
Charles Haughey, who would later become Taoiseach, was among the accused of assisting a plan to illegally import arms for the IRA.
There were no convictions but Mr Haughey and his Cabinet colleague the late Mr Neil Blaney were sacked over the affair.
New light has now been shed on the trial by the discovery of audio recordings, which captured some of the high drama of the proceedings
"Captain James Kelly and Colonel Michael Hefferon were treated very badly by the State. My father and Neil Blaney were different. They were politicians. They could defend themselves but these were two public servants "who put up with an awful lot after the Arms Trial."
On the same programme, Colm Hefferon, the son of the late Col Michael Hefferon said his family believes that his father was acting on orders, and government ministers perjured themselves to make him a scapegoat.
He said as a State witness for the prosecution, his father was "unjustly treated and suffered intentional reputational damage by the government".
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Mr Hefferon said his father documented all of the discussions that took place at the time, but he was prohibited from submitting them to the trial.
He said he has since tried to access the documents via the Freedom of Information Act but he has been told that these documents "do not exist."
Mr Hefferon said his family do not want a State apology, but instead "an acknowledgement, in writing somewhere in the public sphere."
"It would be patronising, it would be empty. It would feel like rubbing salt in the wound at this stage."
Suzanne Kelly also told Joe Duffy that she would like the State to say, "The State did wrong, and the State is now going to correct that wrong."
The daughter of the late Capt James Kelly explained that she told her father while he was on his deathbed that a formal apology had been given.
"We had all gathered in the hospice, and he kept asking me, "Suzanne has it come? I would say no, but it is coming. We knew that he had about another hour, and all his family had gathered, and I held his hand he asked me again, "Has it come?" and I said "It has come Jim." It was like I had to give him permission to go. Of course it hadn't come. But I felt obliged."
