British Government not ordering public inquiry into Pat Finucane murder

By Michael McHugh and David Young, PA

The British Government has decided not to order an immediate public inquiry into north Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane’s murder.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Police Ombudsman investigations into the 1989 loyalist paramilitary shooting are to go ahead.

Mr Finucane, a 39-year-old solicitor who represented republican and loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles, was shot dead in his family home in north Belfast in February 1989 by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in an attack found to have involved collusion with the state.

Mr Finucane’s widow Geraldine and the couple’s three children have been campaigning for decades for a public inquiry to establish the extent of security force involvement.

Last year, the Supreme Court said all previous examinations of the death had not been compliant with human rights standards.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said he met the Finucane family on Monday.

“I advised them of my decision not to establish a public inquiry at this time,” he said.

MP John Finucane says his family is angry but not surprised by the government’s decision not to immediately hold a public inquiry into the circumstances of his father’s murder by loyalists. pic.twitter.com/PJx7C2B9Xl

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) November 30, 2020

In reaction, Social Democratic and Labour Party Leader Colum Eastwood MP has described the British Government’s decision to again renege on a commitment to hold a public inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane as a disgraceful attempt to bury the truth.

The Foyle MP said that the government had an opportunity to demonstrate decisively that they are committed to the highest standard of truth and accountability. Instead, they have confirmed that they have no interest in meeting the needs of victims and survivors.

Colum Eastwood MP said: “The decision to renege on the decades old commitment to hold a public inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane is a disgraceful attempt by this government to bury the truth. Everyone can see through the politics of delay and people will legitimately ask whose interests are served by continuing to deny this inquiry into the murder of a human rights lawyer as he sat down to dinner with his family.

“This was an opportunity for the government to decisively demonstrate that their approach to the legacy of conflict is not narrowly focussed on serving the British establishment. Instead, they have confirmed that the needs of victims and survivors, those who have lost the most, in Northern Ireland will always be a secondary consideration. That is a vile statement of priorities.

“The British Government is unilaterally dismantling the agreed approach to legacy. In doing so, they are putting themselves at odds with international human rights standards, they are reneging on commitments they entered into with the Irish Government and they are setting themselves against the needs of victims and survivors. This is a shameful decision.”

The murder scene. Pic: Alan Lewis. 

Meanwhile, Doug Beattie has welcomed the government decision. 

The Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice Spokesperson said:

“The brutal terrorist murder of Pat Finucane was absolutely wrong and must be condemned.  Thousands of lives were lost in the Troubles. Every single family is mourning the loss of their loved ones with many still seeking truth and justice, and they are all entitled to an Article 2 compliant investigation.  

“On this occasion the Government has made the right decision. There cannot be a hierarchy of victims.

“The UK Supreme Court was clear in 2019 when it stated, ‘It does not follow that a public inquiry of the type which the appellant seeks must be ordered. It is for the state to decide, in light of the incapacity of Sir Desmond de Silva`s review and the inquiries which preceded it to meet the procedural requirements of article 2, what form of investigation, if indeed any is now feasible, is required in order to meet that requirement.’

“What we must do now is establish and agree a legacy process which is fair, balanced, equitable and proportionate. We need a process which can deliver closure for as many families as possible. And for the avoidance of doubt, as far as the Ulster Unionist Party is concerned, that process cannot be the legacy arrangements of the Stormont House Agreement.  

“The Dublin Government has been very vocal and visible with regard to demanding a public inquiry in the Finucane case. Dublin must now step up to the mark and account for the role played by the Republic during the Troubles, especially in the very early stages.  Dublin cannot walk away from its responsibilities as to what it holds in its files and it cannot credibly demand of London what it is not prepared to do itself.”