The British government has succeeded in delaying court action that aims to force it to publish reports on four contentious murders in the North.
A judicial review into the Government's failure to give a date for the publication of the Judge Cory reports was due to begin at the High Court in Belfast this morning.
However, an initial application on behalf of Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy to have the proceedings adjourned for three weeks was granted by Mr Justice Gillen.
He said he granted the application "reluctantly" and wished to make it clear he did so in the expectation that the court would be given dates for publication of the reports in three weeks.
The judge said he had to balance the desire of the families of the victims to have the reports published against any potential risk to the more than 100 people named in the documents.
The reports were drawn up by retired Canadian Supreme Court judge Peter Cory and presented to the British government last October. He examined allegations of collusion by the security forces in a number of the most controversial killings during the Northern Ireland troubles.
The murders being examined are:
The Ulster Freedom Fighters' murder of Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane, who was shot dead in front of his family in their north Belfast home in February 1989;
The loyalist killing of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson, who was blown up by an under-car bomb as she drove away from her home in the County Armagh town in March 1999;
The murder of Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill who was kicked to death by a loyalist mob in May 1997;
The shooting of Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright, who was gunned down inside the Maze Prison by the INLA in December 1997.
Judge Cory also presented the Dublin Government with reports on the killings of two RUC officers and a Northern Ireland High Court judge and his wife that have been surrounded by allegations of collusion with the IRA by some members of the Garda.
The Government here published its reports in December and ordered a public inquiry into the deaths of the two policemen.
Legal action was launched by the Finucane, Nelson and Wright families when the British government failed to publish its reports, despite Judge Cory privately telling the families he had recommended public inquiries in all cases.
In his application to have the case adjourned for three weeks, Mr Morgan told the High Court in Belfast that the government faced a difficult balancing exercise.
It had to publish the reports within a time scale which satisfied the families, but without rushing into print and endangering the people named in them.
High Court Judge Mr Justice Gillen questioned the delay of four-and-a-half months since the Government received the reports.
He said: "The government have virtually unfettered access to personnel and unfettered assess to man hours."
He wanted assurances that the report would not be "delayed interminably" and that the Government would not come back to him in three weeks' time seeking yet more delay.
Opposing the application, Seamus Treacy QC, for the Finucane and Wright families, said there was a belief that the government was trying cynically to delay publication.
Mr Treacy said: "It looks as if there is an attempt going on in the background to tinker with the content of this report. The families fear the government is sexing-down the report."
The judge pointed out that now he had control of the case he could proceed with the judicial review in three weeks if there had still not been publication or a satisfactory date set.
But he said he wanted time to consider his decision and would rule later today.
PA