Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I again express my disappointment at the decision of the British Government not to hold an inquiry into the death of the eminent legal gentleman, Mr. Pat Finucane, despite the trenchant and strong viewpoint expressed by the Taoiseach and Government on the matter. We discussed this issue at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly which I was honoured to attend. While all murders are appalling and shocking, the murder of Mr. Finucane was different because the British Government has acknowledged it involved state collusion. It has made a decision to appoint an eminent Queen's Counsel, Mr. de Silva, to review all the papers on the case by the end of December 2012. Now that it has decided to go down this road, it has struck me that Mr. de Silva's report could provide, as it were, a book of evidence for a suitable parliamentary inquiry.

I note in that regard that Senator Darragh O'Brien and other colleagues opposite spoke with divergent voices on the Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution Act.