Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the House and I thank him for taking time out of his hugely busy schedule to be here. It speaks volumes for the topic we are discussing. From a Fianna Fáil point of view, we believe there must be a full public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. Such a public inquiry was provided for in an agreement reached between the Irish and British Governments in Weston Park in 2001, which is more than 19 years ago.

Pat Finucane was a husband, father, brother and son. He was also a highly successful lawyer. On 12 February 1989, while he was having supper with his wife and three children on a Sunday evening, gunmen burst into their north Belfast home and shot him no fewer than 14 times in an attack found to have involved state collusion.

This is an important week for the Finucane family. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, has committed to taking a decision on whether to order a public inquiry before the end of this month. On Monday, the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, sat down with Pat's wife, Geraldine, and her son, John, and made it very clear to them they would have the full weight of the Taoiseach's office and the entire Government behind their endeavours. Yesterday in the Dáil, the Taoiseach also highlighted how in September the Council of Europe's committee of ministers expressed its deep concern that a decision has still not been made by the United Kingdom authorities on how to respond to the UK Supreme Court judgment of 2019. The Taoiseach went on to say:

There is a very important aspect to this also. Where sovereign governments enter into agreements, they should be adhered to and followed through. The Irish Government at the time entered into its commitments and it established the Smithwick inquiry, irrespective of where it would land and without fear or favour. The same should apply to the UK Government.

It should apply to any government, for that matter. The Taoiseach has pledged to engage with the British Prime Minister on this issue, making it very clear the consistent view of successive Irish governments that there should and must be a full public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane.

It was also constructive that, last weekend, four of the parties in Northern Ireland called on the British Government to hold a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the Alliance Party and the Green Party have sent a joint letter to the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis, urging him to act in the public interest by holding a public inquiry. It is signed by Stormont deputy First Minister and Sinn Féin party leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood, Alliance Party MP, Stephen Farry, and the leader of the Green Party in the North, Claire Bailey. In October, the British Labour Party urged the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to act without delay and order a public inquiry into the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane. Shadow Northern Ireland secretary of state, Louise Haigh, has also written to Mr. Johnson pressing him to call a public inquiry.

For more than 30 years, Geraldine Finucane and her family have campaigned tirelessly to get to the truth of what happened to Pat. It has been a long journey and they have conducted it with great dignity and determination. The Irish Government has walked with them on that journey and we will continue to do so until the commitments entered into at Weston Park are honoured.That is our sincere commitment.

No one should ever try to hold back or cloud over the truth. Many families in Northern Ireland strive to this day to find out what happened to their loved ones and to lift the stone so that the truth will be exposed for all to see. I am thinking this evening of the many families from across the political divide. I am thinking of my county of Monaghan, where the search continues for Columba McVeigh on Bragan Mountain. Every family is entitled to the truth so that they can move on and try to get on with their lives.