Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

Before this debate commenced the Northern Ireland Office issued a statement dismissing it. Before I entered the House I was handed a copy of its press release headlined: "Dáil inquiry debate flawed and misleading". They did not even have the courtesy to wait to hear what we had to say and we should respond by feeling spurred on in our attempt.

All-party motions of any kind are a rarity in the Oireachtas and today's motion is significant. It shows the strength of the support for the family of murdered human rights lawyer Mr. Finucane in its demand for a full, independent public inquiry. As such this is a welcome motion and a positive development. By refusing to hold the inquiry as recommended by Judge Cory the British Government is in flagrant breach of its commitments given at the Weston Park talks. It stands indicted before the international community.

The main obstacle to an inquiry into the murder of Mr. Finucane is the British Government's insistence that it be held under the odious Inquiries Act, which would give a British Minister the power of veto over the evidence given, the duration of the inquiry and the final report. Pressure must be brought to bear on the British Government to repeal that draconian Act. The Irish Government must make plain to people in Ireland, Britain and the international community why an inquiry under this legislation would be entirely unacceptable. The Inquiries Act gives sweeping powers to British Ministers. It would be like the Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform having the power to decide what evidence could and could not be heard at the current tribunals of inquiry at Dublin Castle, stopping the tribunals when he wanted to and editing their final reports as he saw fit. This is exactly what the British Government wants to do on the more serious issue of collusion. This is not about beef, political donations or planning corruption but the lives of hundreds of people killed because of collusion between British state forces and loyalist paramilitaries. It is about their bereaved families and loved ones and their demand for justice and truth.

The Taoiseach should use this all-party motion as part of an international effort to bring attention to this anti-human rights British legislation and to press the case for an inquiry. The Finucane case and the issue of collusion in general should be raised in a systematic manner by the Irish Government at both EU and UN level. As a follow-on to this motion the Taoiseach should call a special meeting with Mr. Blair devoted exclusively to the single issue of collusion between British state forces and loyalist gangs, which led to many deaths throughout this island. Over 1,300 people were killed in Ireland by British state forces and their loyalist paramilitary surrogates since 1969. Nearly 50 of those deaths were in the 26 counties, 33 of them in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of May 1974.

The word collusion is inadequate to describe what happened. Loyalist paramilitary groups in their various guises were used as counterinsurgency gangs by the British state. Key British strategist Brigadier Frank Kitson admitted this point

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