Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue this afternoon. It is deeply disappointing and very annoying that the British Government has not committed to holding a proper public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. I know the disappointment is keenly and painfully felt by the Finucane family, by Geraldine, the late Pat Finucane's wife, and his sons and daughter. I utterly concur with the Deputy's remarks. The decision was arrogant and cruel. The references to a potential PSNI review or the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland were disingenuous. It is very clear that the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland is not at present reviewing the case, so the Secretary of State's position there will require further explanation.

I thought that the statement of Chief Constable of the PSNI, Simon Byrne, was particularly interesting and significant. He described the murder of Pat Finucane as "a truly horrendous crime" and referred to the work of Judge Cory, Sir Desmond de Silva and others and the apology of a former Prime Minister in relation to the murder of Pat Finucane and the State's involvement in it. He also said:

It is our view that there are currently no new lines of inquiry. We now need to decide if a further review is merited given all the previous investigations into this case.

He went on to say:

A review itself is not an investigation. Any decision to investigate would only be made following the review process. Again, it is likely that any new investigation would need to be independently led. We would also need to be satisfied that given the extensive work of Lord Stevens, Judge Cory and Sir Desmond de Silva, that a further investigation has a reasonable prospect of furthering this matter either by bringing more persons to justice or answering the unanswered questions of the Finucane family and their ongoing search for justice.

In a sense, that goes to the heart of the matter. I listened to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on "RTÉ News at One" just before I came in here. He spoke about his talks with then Prime Minister Tony Blair and the identification high-profile cases such as the Finucane case and others, and that the respective Governments would pursue them. The Irish Government established the Smithwick tribunal, pursued it and upheld its side of the deal reached at Weston Park. The former Taoiseach was very clear that he understood an inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane would follow. It seems to me that there has been a consistent effort to undermine any progress towards the truth. Some dark secrets are being hidden and it is time they were revealed in the proper forum of a public inquiry. The necessity to do that is to restore confidence in the broader objective of restoring confidence and reconciliation across the board and enabling proper truth recovery across the board. This decision only delays that. The delay corrodes public trust in the British state's capacity to deal with issues it committed to dealing with. Proper relationships between two Governments and two states must be founded on the principle that agreements that are entered into are followed through on. The Irish Government followed through on its commitments. The British Government has not followed through on its commitment to a full public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. It is extremely important that it does so.

I spoke with Geraldine Finucane at midday to make it clear to her and to her family that the Irish Government will continue to work with them to keep the pressure on and ensure a public inquiry is eventually held. It is my view it is inevitable that at some stage a public inquiry will have to be held into this heinous crime. We will work with other colleagues in the Oireachtas to pursue this agenda.

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