Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I will not answer on individual cases because I do not have the facts on them. It is clear that there are many cases related to allegations of collusion in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The hundreds of cases involving thousands of deaths and serious injury that occurred between the late 1960s and the mid-1990s — in many cases later than that but thankfully not in the same number — will obviously not all be subject to full inquiry, and that is why it was decided to take a sample number of these cases. The work of the Northern Ireland Office, Nuala O'Loan and the Chief Constable in setting up a historical data office is a good way to tackle this problem.

We will continue to put our efforts into helping the Finucane family by exerting the maximum political pressure on the British Government. We are determined to meet the needs of the family. There is a view that in the absence of securing an agreement, particularly from the family, on an inquiry, there may be little point in holding an inquiry at all, bearing in mind the expense involved. That is a matter, however, for the British Government. It would be an enormous tragedy if the truth of this case did not come out and I hope a way can be found to meet the needs of the family. The British Government knows that. We have considered all the legal processes and have given the British Government our views on that. We find the current situation unsatisfactory and we will continue to argue the case in the coming months for Geraldine Finucane and her family, as well as for some of the other high profile cases. Otherwise, it will go on for years and will not end. We will particularly focus on this case because in this instance we got an agreement on a process and we will continue to exert our efforts.

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