Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On 12 February 1989, 30 years ago, Pat Finucane was shot 14 times in front of his wife, Geraldine, and their children as they sat down for Sunday lunch in their Belfast home. Pat was an intelligent man and a committed and dedicated solicitor. He defended his clients and exposed human and civil rights abuses in the North. Pat was highly effective and highly respected. He was very good at his job and, for that, he was murdered.

The people who killed Pat were agents of the RUC. The information used to kill Pat was provided by British military intelligence, and the guns used to murder him were supplied by RUC agents. As the Taoiseach knows, Pat's family has campaigned long and hard and with great dignity for a public inquiry into his killing. I pay a special tribute this afternoon to Geraldine and the whole family for never backing down in the face of British Government intransigence and denial.

The Taoiseach will be aware that the Finucane family have been in the British Supreme Court over the past year to try to compel the British Government to fulfil its obligation to hold a public inquiry, as agreed at Weston Park in 2001. This morning, that court has ruled that previous inquiries into Pat's murder did not have the capability to establish salient facts into his death and, as such, it has found that an inquiry compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights into Pat's murder has not been held and that none of the previous inquiries has satisfied Article 2 obligations.

The continued refusal by the British Government to honour its commitment to hold a public inquiry into Pat's killing is one of the many broken commitments of the peace process. The withholding of information on the part of the British Government and the absolute disregard shown to victims in the courts are features of many cases. The Finucane case is not unique. It must stop.

At Weston Park in 2001, the British Government agreed to a public inquiry into Pat's murder. This has not happened. That agreement must now be honoured immediately, and the Irish Government must act to secure that. The Taoiseach will recall that this is not just a matter of a commitment in his programme for Government but it is also the stated will of the Oireachtas. Will he join me this afternoon in stating clearly the British Government should immediately fulfil its obligation to hold a public inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane? Will he relay that demand without delay to the British Government, including the British Prime Minister?

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