Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share my time with my colleague, Senator Currie.

I welcome the Minister. As has been alluded to, his presence is indicative of the seriousness with which the Government regards, and should regard, this matter. I strongly welcome to the Gallery Mr. John Finucane, MP. In the company of Senator Ó Donnghaile, I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Finucane in Belfast. We had a very good meeting on that occasion. Mr. Finucane was then Lord Mayor of Belfast. It is a great pleasure to have him in the Oireachtas tonight. With others, I acknowledge the trauma, pain and suffering that the Finucane family have gone through for the 30 years since the murder of their father. It has been a horror story for Geraldine and the family. That merits acknowledgement at the very outset.

As a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, I am happy to acknowledge the involvement of the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe and its commitment to this case. Senator Gavan is also a member of the assembly. We will be reinforcing the council's involvement at any available opportunity.

Collusion has already been established by the authors of the de Silva report, and it is widely acknowledged. In fact, former Prime Minister Cameron apologised. That is on the record. It is a shocking story, however, and it should not have gone on for so long.

The Irish Government has a long-standing record of supporting the Finucane family. Clearly, we are in favour of an independent public inquiry. It is provided for under the Weston Park Agreement reached between the UK and Irish Governments in line with the European Court of Human Rights obligation. That agreement was reached in 2001. As the Minister said, we responded with our Smithwick inquiry. It is a shame that the same sense of honour was not reciprocated by the other side. Let us hope that will be altered before the month's end.

Our Minister for Foreign Affairs met the Finucane family on 4 November, and the Taoiseach met them on 23 November. In February 2019, the UK Supreme Court found that Mr. Finucane's widow, Geraldine, had a legitimate expectation that an independent inquiry into her husband's murder would be held. The Supreme Court found that the de Silva inquiry had not been compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights because it could not compel or investigate witnesses, or cross-question them properly, to investigate the veracity of what they had been saying. There was a critical witness excluded from the inquiry.

In January 2020, Ms Geraldine Finucane was granted leave by the Belfast High Court to seek a judicial review. In the course of that review, proceedings of 12 October 2020, the legal counsel for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mr. Brandon Lewis, said he had a commitment to reach a decision on or before 30 November. Let us hope that will be honoured. He actually offered an apology to Ms Finucane for the delay and admitted to the collusion. Mr. John Finucane, MP, who is present this evening, has acknowledged publicly the Government's support.What is a very sinister aspect of this is the blackening of and various smears on the name of Pat Finucane to add to the pain of his family since his murder. It is relevant to say publicly that four parties in the North are united to have the matter resolved, namely, Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the Alliance Party and the Green Party. We will shortly have a spokesperson for the Green Party here. That is a very relevant and significant level of support.

In conclusion, all one can say is that the murder of an eminent civil rights lawyer in front of his family was an unspeakable horror that at least merits an independent public inquiry now to give the family some truth and consolation. I am very proud that it has the support of all the parties. My party will be supporting this motion tonight and I commend the movers of the motion.