British government orders inquiry into murder of Pat Finucane by UDA

The UK government has ordered a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane, the Belfast solicitor shot dead in 1989 by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in collusion with British forces.

Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who met Mr Finucane’s family in Belfast on Tuesday night, announced the inquiry on Wednesday afternoon in the House of Commons.

Mr Finucane (39) was shot dead in his family home in north Belfast in February 1989 by the UDA in an attack found by a series of inquiries to have involved collusion with the state.

[ Timeline of Pat Finucane caseOpens in new window ]

For decades, successive UK governments had resisted a campaign by the Finucane family for a full public inquiry into the killing. However, former prime minister David Cameron apologised to the family in 2012 for British collusion in the shooting.

Speaking after the announcement, Pat Finucane’s widow Geraldine Finucane said she felt “a bit shell shocked” at the UK’s decision to order a public inquiry after her family’s 35-year campaign for justice.

“It’s quite a lot to take in. I think it’s going to take more than 24 hours for the reality to actually settle on us. I always hoped I’d see this day but really when it came, and it came quite suddenly, it was a surprise,” Geraldine Finucane told the BBC.

She expressed faith in the inquiry process where witnesses are compelled to give evidence in the public domain.

Earlier, at a press conference Mrs Finucane said it had been a “long journey” to get to this point and that it was time time for the truth to come out after “35 years of cover-ups”.

She said she believed the public inquiry could be a “watershed moment” in dealing with legacy cases in Northern Ireland.

“I look forward to having the opportunity to participate in a statutory inquiry and expose publicly the whole truth behind the murder of my husband.

“This has always been the objective of the campaign that my family and I have pursued for the last 35 years.

“We have only ever been concerned with uncovering the truth.”

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Benn said the UK government had previously promised twice to hold the inquiry, first in 2001 in an agreement with the Irish Government, and again in 2004, when a UDA gunman was convicted.

“The plain fact is that for two decades that commitment has been unfulfilled. It is for that reason that I have decided to establish an inquiry,” he said.

In 2019, Britain’s supreme court said all previous examinations of the murder had not been compliant with human rights standards.

The court acknowledged Mrs Finucane had been given an “unequivocal undertaking” by the UK government following the 2001 Weston Park agreement that there would be a public inquiry into the murder. However, the supreme court judges found that the government had been justified in later deciding against holding one.

[ Secrecy and Northern Ireland’s Dirty War: the murder of Pat FinucaneOpens in new window ]

The court said it was up to the government to decide what form of investigation was now required.

The following year, London pushed back a decision on a public inquiry, insisting outstanding issues concerning the original police investigation needed to be first examined by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.

In the years since, Mrs Finucane has pursued further legal proceedings challenging the ongoing delays on a decision.

During the summer, the Court of Appeal in Belfast gave the UK government a September deadline to confirm what form of human rights-compliant investigation it intended to undertake into the murder.

[ How the public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane got over the lineOpens in new window ]

Taoiseach Simon Harris welcomed the decision, saying today was“a vindication of Geraldine Finucane and her family who have campaigned over decades for truth and justice.”

Mr Harris said he spoke to Mr Starmer about the case, including last Saturday when they met in Dublin, and in follow up to a previous discussion in Chequers in July.

“I know that the prime minister is committed to finding a new approach to legacy issues in Northern Ireland, and today’s decision by the British government is in keeping with the spirit of that commitment,” he said.

Nationalist politicians in Northern Ireland welcomed the granting of the inquiry, with Sinn Féin Stormont First Minister Michelle O’Neill hailing it a “landmark day”.

“This has been long overdue and one which British governments had previously committed to but never delivered on,” she said.

Ms O’Neill called on the British government to work closely with the family “to ensure the public inquiry meets their needs and uncovers the full truth of this shameful killing”.

[ Hilary Benn said he couldn’t give Finucane family their murdered father back, but he could give them ‘transparency’Opens in new window ]

However, DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the decision will “heap further hurt” on families who have never had anyone convicted of their loved one’s murder.

The UK government announcement “perpetuates a hierarchy”, Mr Robinson said, and sent a message “that this murder was more deserving of investigation than others”.

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister also expressed his opposition and said the “tragic take away” for Troubles victims is that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), the new UK body set up to examine Troubles-era crimes, is “good enough for them but not for the Finucane family”.

Outgoing SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the development marked a “turning point for legacy investigations”.