Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Cheannaire as ucht an Oird Gnó a leagan os ár comhair. As the Leader knows, last week the Taoiseach met Pat Finucane's wife Geraldine and their son John and unequivocally supported the family's demand for a public inquiry into the murder of Pat. In this Chamber, the Minister for Foreign Affairs endorsed that Government support and the Seanad unanimously supported the family's call for a public inquiry. John attended the Seanad debate and he spoke personally at last week's Good Friday Agreement committee about the loss of his father and the impact of his murder on his mother and his family. Yesterday, the British Government rallied around to protect and defend those in the British Cabinet who sanctioned the murder of Pat Finucane through collusion over 30 years ago. Reacting last night to that decision, Pat's son John stated:

Our initial reaction is that we are very angry. I would like to say that we are surprised. But what the British Government proposed to us today was nothing short of insulting. We have waited for nearly two years for the government to respond to our supreme court victory in 2019. We have been waiting 31 years for an effective investigation into the murder of my father. What was presented today, I think, once again, if we needed another example, we were presented with it today, is, that the British government at every opportunity will continue to make the wrong decision, and will put all their efforts into ensuring that the truth as to what happened in the murder of my father, that the full truth, will not see the light of day. And they are intent on suppressing that truth. And today's meeting confirms that again to our family. To dangle this statement, that he is not ruling out an inquiry, 31 and a half years after my father was murdered; some nine years after David Cameron accepted that there was collusion; five years after De Silva reported; two years after the supreme court have given their judgement. To say today quite casually that he is not ruling out an inquiry I feel is insulting. We had police investigations before. We had the police investigation after my father was murdered. We also had a police investigation by the most senior police officer in the UK, John Stevens, now Lord Stevens. The Supreme Court dismissed that as not being an effective investigation. So to sit in a room with us today and present this as something credible and ask for us to support that; I thought it was astonishing and I thought it was exceptionally arrogant and cruel of the Secretary of State on behalf of his Government.

The Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Seanad with one voice supported the Finucane family and their call for an independent public inquiry.They have also received substantial bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Yesterday's decision by the British Government was cruel and crass. Last week, An Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Seanad sent a powerful and personal message of support to the Finucane family. That message remains with them today and will help them absorb yesterday's shocking and indefensible decision. Yesterday, Pat's widow, Geraldine, stated:

It would seem to me there is a lot to hide. So the idea is to just delay and delay and to hope as I get older I will pop my clogs and the investigation will stop. But believe you me with every breath in my body I will fight them to the bitter end and I will make them responsible for what they did.

We wrote to Geraldine to continue to stand with her and family in that fight, to Pat, to truth and to justice and to all those campaigning for the same. The Weston Park agreement has been wilfully ignored. The full authority of the office of An Taoiseach is being wilfully ignored, as are the unanimous and unified voice of the Oireachtas and the importance of the people, here at home and throughout the world, who put on this campaign. The British Government is even ignoring its own Supreme Court.

The Finucane family and the people must now hear what the Government intends to do about it. As Geraldine put it so well on RTÉ Radio this morning:

Today is a new day. I will never give up.

We must never give up either.