This week the British government via Brandon Lewis MP, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced that it will not be holding a public inquiry into the 1989 murder of Pat Finucane.

The alternative given was that the PSNI and the NI police ombudsman would carry out their own investigation. This pathway merely internalising the issue to Northern Ireland and will not involve the adequate question of British State security forces involved in the event.

In 2012 the then British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted that there was ‘shocking levels of collusion’ in reference to British state forces colluding with Loyalist paramilitaries in the murder of Mr Finucane. Given this admission by then British Prime Minister it is only more concerning that the current Secretary of State is refusing to seek a public inquiry in this matter.

This decision is extremely disappointing not just for me but also the Finucane family and indeed all of those who seek justice and peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Last week the Good Friday Agreement voted unanimously in favour of a motion seeking such an inquiry. As co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement the Irish government must, through the Minister for Foreign Affairs, seek to hold the British government accountable for its obligations in relation to the case of Mr. Finucane.

I will in my capacity as Green Party spokesperson on Justice and indeed in my position on the GFA committee continue to work with the government, the Finucane family and victims groups to see that this matter receives the public inquiry needed and indeed the inquiry the Finucane family deserves.

ENDS

Image credit: Here.