Political reaction: Political reaction in Northern Ireland to the British government's response to the Cory report was divided along traditional party lines.
Sinn Féin and the SDLP criticised the decision to delay establishment of a Finucane inquiry, but the DUP criticised the decision to go ahead with inquiries into the three other controversial killings examined by Judge Peter Cory.
For Sinn Féin, Mr Gerry Kelly said: "The Cory report is a damning indictment of British rule in Ireland. It reports on the British government killing of citizens with impunity. This is a scenario usually associated with repressive dictatorships. In any democracy in Europe the government would have fallen."
He claimed that collusion persisted and that agents and the structures used by them are still in place. "The British government must take up its responsibilities. They must put an end to the cover-up and to the ethos and structures in which this killing campaign flourished," he added.
The SDLP's Mr Mark Durkan said: "The Finucane family has already waited 15 years for the truth. They should have to wait no longer.
"The Finucanes do not want prosecutions to hold up inquiries. Tony Blair must respect their wishes. The British government has had plenty of time to bring successful prosecutions over the last 15 years. People will be cynical about their newly-found determination to secure prosecutions now. People are asking if this is the government's real reason for the delay, or just their excuse." He added that the SDLP did not accept any reason for further delay.
The Democratic Unionists criticised the decision to call inquiries into the Hamill, Nelson and Wright cases.
Mr Jim Allister, the DUP European election candidate, said that it was pitiful to see a government today yield to every demand channelled through Cory, because as a sop to Sinn Féin they, aided by all the pro-Agreement parties, made a unilateral commitment at Weston Park to accept whatever was proposed.
"It is outrageous that the taxpayer is going for years to come to be subjected to a series of Saville-type inquiries, costing further hundreds of millions."
The Alliance leader, Mr David Ford, questioned the British government's commitment to act in four cases when many others received little or no attention.
"The governments made commitments as part of a series of trade-offs at Weston Park that they had little choice but to deliver upon. However, it does have to be asked why the governments elevated certain cases, even certain cases where there are allegations of collusion, above many others."
Human rights bodies criticised the Finucane decision. The Belfast-based Committee for the Administration of Justice expressed its "serious concerns".
Mr Paul Mageean, acting director, said: "It is clear that the government is using ongoing prosecutions as a pretext for refusing to reveal the truth about what happened to Pat Finucane."
A public judicial inquiry with powers of subpoena, similar to the Bloody Sunday tribunal, will also be held into the murder of Pat Finucane.
However, this will not begin until after the trial of a loyalist charged with the killing and unless the Stevens investigation seeks no further prosecutions.
The trial of Mr Ken Barrett, charged with the killing last summer, is not expected before September and could last months. He denies the charges.