A Laois man and son of a murdered prison officer is working closely with the European Union on radicalisation and terrorism prevention programs. 

Portlaoise man Austin Stack works with the EU commission on the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) and recently took part in a mentoring program. 

Mr Stack has chosen this line of work following the murder of his father in the 1980's.

Brian Stack was the chief prison officer working on the paramilitary wing of Portlaoise Prison in 1983. He was shot in cold blood by an IRA gunman, leaving him paralysed and brain damaged. He died from injuries within 18 months, leaving a wife and three young sons.

Pictured: Cormac Devlin TD, Chair of Oireachtas Committee on the Good Friday Agreement, with Estera and mentor Austin Stack

Austin Stack, who is a retired prison officer, was 14 when his father passed away, but he never forgotten his father nor has he ever given up hope of bringing his murderers to justice.

The local man was recently paired with a young youth worker in Bratislava named Estera in a mentorship program on terrorism studies.

"We undertake various workshops and talks on radicalisation prevention around Europe, I recently took part in a mentorship programme for young people who want to become experts in the area," Mr Stack told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"Estera, myself and Ann Travers, a woman whose sister was murdered by the IRA in Bray, have set up a group called RAS- Remembrance Acknowledgement Support for victims of terrorism," he said.

"We are looking to focus on the policy of remembrance as a tool of prevention. We have set up and developed a program for Transition Year students in secondary schools, and have learned a lot from interactions with outsider practitioners across Europe who want to do something similar," Mr Stack explained.

"We would initially hope to reach 30 secondary schools and deliver presentations using our own experiences to students. This is not connected to the Troubles, it is more with our experience of how people become radicalised," he said.

Pictured: Mr Stack presenting to students in Maynooth's Masters in Terrorism Studies

Mr Stack said that this applies to the radicalisation of far-right, far-left, the IRA and varying forms of extremist terrorism.

"Encompassing all sorts of radicalisation, we want to go in and deliver this talk to TY students. We would set kids with a task and come back to them through the programme, it would work quite well in other jurisdictions."

Mr Stack recently presented this program to terrorism studies students in Maynooth's Kennedy Centre. 

"They were impressed and invited me back to deliver it to second year Bachelor students," he said.

On Thursday April 16, Mr Stack met with Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan to discuss his ideas.

"I met with Minister O'Callaghan in relation to a national memorial for the remembrance of victims of terrorism," Mr Stack explained.

"I impressed upon him how poignant the memorial to victims of the Holocaust is in Berlin, and the little memorials in the corners and nooks that were dedicated to various people. I suggested a statue of Oisín in Tír na nÓg, to represent someone who is forever young," Mr Stack said.

The Portlaoise man has also asked for a national day of remembrance for victims of terrorism to be considered. 

"The remembrance days are usually held in March, around the time of the Madrid bombing. When it was held in Brussels, it was the first time someone from the Republic of Ireland was invited," he said.

"The EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Magnus Brunei, and the Belgian Prime Minister gave keynote speeches, where they impressed that we need our own governments to agree to national memorials as well. That can be neutral, with no flag waving on one side or another," Mr Stack said.

"As divided as the North is, they have a day in Stormont to coincide with EU remembrance days, where victims from both sides of the troubles tell their stories."

Mr Stack Minister O'Callaghan was happy to listen to his suggestions and ideas.

"With radicalisation, opinions start to form around the age group of TY students, around 15 and 16," he said.

"Those are the people who are most impressionable. The actors who are trying to radicalise others would target those people. That is when you need to get in and talk to them," he said.

Mr Stack said that along with having the time to do this in his retirement, he deeply enjoys this line of work.

"I don't want people to end up wasting their lives being radicalised, and ending up in prison because of it," he said.

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"I was asked to go talk to a young man in Northern Ireland years ago, he was under severe pressure from the UVF. He was vulnerable and his father had been murdered by the IRA.

"I was asked to go speak with him so I spent an evening with him, and explained the impact that would happen if he did seek revenge," Mr Stack recalled.

"I explained the impact on another family, and putting it on someone else's family. The chances are, you'll be the only one to do prison time over the murder of your dad. I thought then that this is something I am passionate about," he finished.