Finucanes may boycott inquiry

Finucane’s son Martin has already predicted that if the Inquiries Bill, allowing the British government order that evidence be given in private, was pushed through, the family would withhold cooperation.
“The family has made its position quite clear regarding this new legislation,” he said. “If it goes ahead we certainly could not accept it or participate with the inquiry.”
Finucane was murdered by the UDA in front of his family in their North Belfast home in 1989. A report last year by retired Canadian Judge Peter Cory found evidence that elements within the RUC special branch and British army intelligence were involved in the killing. Cory recommended that a full-blown public inquiry be held into Finucane’s death.
Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary, Paul Murphy, agreed last year to hold an inquiry into the murder but indicated, because of national security concerns, new legislation would have to be drafted.
Last month, Cory criticized the plans in a letter to a Congressional committee stating the new legislation would make a meaningful inquiry impossible.
“If the new act were to become law, I would advise all Canadian judges to decline an appointment in light of the impossible situation they would be facing,” he said.
An Irish government source said: “This legislation is not enough. The taoiseach’s position has been that he supports the Finucane family in their statements on the Inquiries Bill.”
It is likely that Ahern will raise the new legislation with Blair in the coming days. Irish government sources said the British government had failed to live up to commitments made in the Weston Park agreement of 2001 when the two governments signed up to full public inquiries into a number of controversial killings including that of two RUC officers near the border by the IRA in 1989.
The new bill passed the final stages in Westminster last Thursday despite strong objections from the legal community and human rights groups. It is widely perceived as a legislative attempt to deny them access to vital information.
The Pat Finucane Center for Human Rights in Derry sent a strong message to the British government minister responsible after the bill was rushed through, asking, “Are you aware that those who actually witnessed the murder, the Finucane family, are now highly unlikely to take part in this inquiry?
“Your government appears determined to cover up the murder of Pat Finucane. This is perhaps understandable given the involvement of the Force Research Unit of the British Army, the Security Service [MI5] and RUC Special Branch in the murder and subsequent cover-up.”
The SDLP justice spokesperson, Alban Maginness, said efforts to prevent the truth coming out would not succeed.
“Tony Blair needs to know that he will not get away with gagging the Pat Finucane inquiry,” he said. “This legislation has been deliberately tailored to do just that.”
The SDLP policing spokesperson, Alex Attwood, said the British government had now signaled the lengths it would go to in preventing the truth emerging.
“A strategic decision has been taken by Downing Street that the truth about the murder of Pat Finucane and others will not be exposed,” he said.
(Paul Colgan in Dublin provided additional reporting to this story.)