BRITISH PRIME minister David Cameron’s decision to rule out a public inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989 has provoked fury, with his widow, Geraldine, saying her family felt “angry and insulted”.
Instead of a public inquiry, Mr Cameron, who has long opposed a repeat of the costs of the Bloody Sunday inquiry, has offered an 18-month examination by a lawyer, who will not have the right to examine witnesses under oath. The family will also have no involvement.
Mrs Finucane said she had called a halt to a meeting at No 10 with Mr Cameron. As she and family members left it, she said: “I can barely speak to the media on this occasion, I am so angry. I am so angry and so insulted by being brought [here] today to hear what the prime minister had on offer.”
During the meeting, Mr Cameron apologised to the Finucane family for the murder of their father and husband in 1989 by members of the Ulster Freedom Fighters, accepting that there was “state” collusion in his murder.
Northern Secretary Owen Paterson will today announce a limited inquiry into Mr Finucane’s death. It will involve a lawyer, Sir Desmond da Silva, examining existing documentation and then briefing the family.
Speaking after the No 10 meeting, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “He expressed his profound sympathy for the family and said it was clear from [the] Stephens and Cory [reports] that state collusion had taken place in Mr Finucane’s murder.
“He accepted these conclusions on behalf of the government and apologised to the family. He confirmed that the government’s priority was to get to the truth in the best and most effective way. The secretary of state will set out details on the process shortly,” the spokesman said.
Mr Finucane’s son Michael said Mr Cameron had feebly argued that public inquiries had not worked in other cases. “He seemed oblivious to the fact that the absence of participation by our family would mean we simply couldn’t support what he proposed,” he added.
Last night, the Belfast-based Pat Finucane Centre said Mr Cameron’s declaration that a lawyer-led examination is “the best way forward” might be true for the British security services, but it was not true for the family.
Saying that former prime minister Tony Blair had signed up to a public inquiry in the Weston Park talks in 2001, the centre said: “It is absolutely vital that any inquiry be allowed to delve into the involvement of the British Army Force Research Unit, RUC Special Branch and MI5 in the murder.”
Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly said Mr Cameron’s decision is “an extreme act of bad faith” and reflects the British establishment’s determination to resist an inquiry, since some of its members are guilty of “guiding, directing and controlling the conflict”, he said.
Saying that she was appalled, Gemma McKeown of the Commission for the Administration of Justice said the British offer was “nothing short” of insulting. “A review, to be carried out by a QC, does not constitute a proper inquiry that upholds the rule of law.”
Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds welcomed the decision “not to proceed with another costly open-ended inquiry”, although he said he understood the desire of relatives to get the full facts.
“However, history in Northern Ireland has shown that the kind of expensive open-ended inquiry demanded in some cases has not been able to bring closure for anyone involved and has actually increased community tensions.”
