Ms Anne Cadwallader:

I thank the committee for inviting the representatives from the Pat Finucane Centre here today. The primary work of our centre is to help any family that wishes to find out more about why, how and who was responsible for their bereavement or injury whether that be physical or psychological. We profoundly believe that families have a right to know as much as is now possible about their loss or injury.

It is a very basic human right to be accorded the dignity that only truth and justice can confer. As President Higgins told us on a recent visit to Áras an Uachtaráin "to be forgotten is to die twice". While this is important for individual families, it goes far further. If someone was killed, as we now know they were, by perpetrators working for the State using weapons also originating from State armouries, families need to know why and how there was such a breakdown in what they legitimately expect from their government.

I shall make reference to one family in particular, the family of John Pat Cunningham, a vulnerable adult shot in the back and killed by heavily armed soldiers as he ran away from them in fear. That family has had to listen to some British politicians and newspapers calling for what amounts to an amnesty for people who killed Irish citizens while wearing the uniform of the British Army. Even worse, the victim's family has witnessed some of these same ex-British soldiers blaming them for having the audacity to allow John Pat out of the house on the day he was killed.

We do not limit ourselves, however, to working for the victims of State perpetrators. The Pat Finucane Centre believes all parties to the conflict, including paramilitaries - both loyalist and republican - abused human rights. Our services as researchers and advocates are open to anyone, whatever their politics, national identity or religious belief, in total confidence. We profoundly believe that a better understanding of the reasons for conflict can only be beneficial for wider society as we move into the future.

Moving on to where we stand today, lawyers acting for families represented by the Pat Finucane Centre and Justice for the Forgotten won a landmark legal victory at the end of July in Belfast High Court. The court recognised that the now defunct Historical Enquiries Team had pledged to write a thematic report on State collusion in what has now become known as the Glenanne series of murders. This involved 120 victims including the 34 people murdered in Dublin and Monaghan in May 1974. The court found that there had been "extreme" unfairness and that the Police Service of Northern Ireland had undermined the Historical Enquiries Team's pledge. The court said that the families' concerns on collusion are compounded by the PSNI's suppression of the Historical Enquiries Team's report, which had been 80% written when it was stopped in its tracks.

Two decades ago, said the court, the British Government had committed itself to putting in place a so-called "package of measures" to recognise its commitment to the basic principles underlying the European Convention on Human Rights. It was a matter of grave concern, according to the court, that the Chief Constable of the PSNI, in suppressing the Historical Enquiries Team's thematic report on Glenanne, had dismantled and abandoned those principles. The judge said there is now a "real risk that this will fuel in the minds of the families the fear that the State has resiled from its public commitments because it is not genuinely committed to addressing the unresolved concerns that the families have of State involvement". This directly affects dozens of families north and south of the Border and discussions are now under way between lawyers for the families and the British State to agree how to remedy this egregious wrong inflicted on families.

The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Dr. Michael Maguire, is currently heading that office's largest ever investigation to date - into the Glenanne series of 120 murders. Other families are on a very long waiting list, however, before they can expect the Ombudsman to investigate their concerns. I include here a chart showing how very poorly the Ombudsman is funded. One can barely see the section in the chart that relates to the Ombudsman. Even smaller is the section relating to legacy issues.

This has wider implications for more than the families patiently waiting for inquiries. The Ombudsman's powers were a significant part of the proposals encouraging cross-community confidence in new policing arrangements, and part of the agreed package of measures. How can the fact that a mere 0.2% of the overall criminal justice budget is spent on legacy inquiries encourage that confidence? It cannot and it does not. These problems are infecting the new policing arrangements with the diseases of the past.

On top of this, the inquest system in Northern Ireland has now effectively collapsed. The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan has produced a business model showing it will cost £10 million to fund the 56 outstanding inquests into 98 deaths, only one of which is currently due for listing and even that will not be until next year. The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, is facing a legal challenge for allegedly blocking Sir Declan's plan after she confirmed in a BBC interview she would not allow it to proceed because, as she put it, she does not consider enough "innocent victims" are on his list. How is all of this improving the prospect of reconciliation and power-sharing? This is quite aside from the devastating impact on families desperate to resolve the deep anxieties still dominating their lives.

London cannot be allowed to abdicate its responsibilities or use the power-sharing Executive at Stormont as cover for its failures. The Executive, unlike Westminster, is not a party to the European Convention and made no commitment on the package of measures. London's breach of the convention's ban on torture is also unresolved. This goes right back to the 1970s when the then Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, raised concerns with his opposite number, Edward Heath. We know that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has raised new evidence on waterboarding with the Northern Ireland Office but Westminster has failed to investigate although uniquely, under international law, there is never any possible justification for torture and no statute of limitations.

Aside from the legal process, there is obviously a political one. James Brokenshire, the Northern Secretary of State, is expected to announce a full consultation on implementing the Stormont House Agreement legacy proposals starting in November this year. If this goes ahead, and there is no reason it should not as it does not require cross-party approval in Belfast, we would encourage the Government here, the political parties represented in this committee and indeed anyone interested, to become full participants. Please do not wait for someone else to respond to the consultation.

It is the Pat Finucane Centre's contention that given the lack of resources for inquests and the Police Ombudsman, the lack of independence of the PSNI’s legacy investigation branch, the failure to implement the Stormont House Agreement and the failure to complete the Historical Enquiries Team's report into Glenanne the package of measures agreed between London and Europe is now non-existent.

Finally, it was fully three years ago that Nils Muiznieks, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, said on a visit to Belfast:

The UK government cannot wash its hands [of the investigations] ... These are the most serious human rights violations ... Until now there has been virtual impunity for the State actors involved and I think the government has a responsibility to uphold its obligations under the European Convention to fund investigations and to get the results. The issue of impunity is a very, very serious one and the UK government has a responsibility to uphold the rule of law. This is not just an issue of dealing with the past, it has to do with upholding the law in general.

This is not just an issue of dealing with the past, it has to do with upholding the law in general. Thank you very much for listening.