A survivor of the Miami Showband massacre says their legal battle could have gone on for another ten years had they not settled the case yesterday.
Survivors and relatives of those killed near Newry in 1975 are to receive almost £1.5 million (€1.75 million) in total.
They had taken legal action against the UK Ministry of Defence and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Singer Fran O'Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty and trumpeter Brian McCoy were killed when they were attacked by loyalist paramilitaries while travelling home to Dublin following a concert in Banbridge.
The attack happened when the band was stopped at a fake army checkpoint set up by Ulster Defence Regiment and Ulster Volunteer Force members.
The terrorists attempted to hide a bomb on the bus, but it exploded prematurely - killing two of the attackers.
The surviving militants then opened fire on the band members.
Des McAlea and Stephen Travers survived the attack, and will now receive hundreds of thousands pounds each in damages following the legal settlement.
Representatives of Mr O'Toole and Mr McCoy will also receive more than £300,000 each.
The survivors of the attack have long claimed there was collusion between authorities and loyalist terrorists.
Stephen Travers told The Pat Kenny Show the evidence that would have emerged in a full court hearing would have been “damning" and "disastrous for the British".
He said they ultimately decided to settle the civil case before it got to that point - citing the looming possibility of British government legislation that would provide an amnesty for Troubles-related crimes.
He said: "It took us ten years to get them into court... they didn't fight the case, which is what I really wanted. So they get away with saying suspected collusion.
“If anybody said they weren’t prepared to settle, then it would have gone [further]. Back at the start of this year, I refused [to settle] - and even up until last week I still refused.
“But the threat of the current British government to shut down all these cases - threatening to dispense with justice rather than dispense justice - that was also a factor I had to take into consideration. So I said ‘I’m prepared to settle this’.
“It could have gone on for another ten years trying to fight this if they passed this legislation.”
He said it took ten years to get the UK authorities “kicking and screaming” into court - showing just how difficult it is to get such cases heard.
However, he believes - given the context - yesterday "probably was the best outcome".
Despite that, Stephen believes yesterday’s outcome 'isn’t a victory for anyone', saying they "won't get the lads back" or have their own lives go unaffected by what happened nearly 50 years ago.
However, he hopes this outcome will help or provide some solace to other Troubles victims who are still fighting for justice.
He said: “This is the first case… that has gone the distance, and they found they couldn’t even defend. That is tremendous.
“There are other people who will use what they see as a victory yesterday… as a stick to beat the other community with. I don’t want that to happen.
“The fight goes on for justice. There’s no justice until there’s justice for everybody.”
You can listen back to Pat Kenny's 2019 interview with Stephen about the events of 1975 here: https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/highlights-from-the-pat-kenny-show/remastered-miami-showband-massacre
