OLDEST IRISH AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN USA, ESTABLISHED IN 1928
Category: Archive

For Pat’s life

February 17, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Over 200 people gathered in the murdered father of three’s former university, Trinity College, to hear deeply personal accounts of his life, the impact of his death and an insight into the ongoing fight for truth from those connected with the legal case.
Following a 20 year battle for the truth behind the murder and the family’s ongoing campaign for an independent public inquiry, delegates from all over the world gathered to celebrate his life and work. The events spanned three days with the main speeches on discussions taking place Saturday.
Finucane’s widow Geraldine, his legal partner Peter Madden and friend and colleague in his human rights work, Clara Reilly, gave emotional accounts of their time spent with Finucane before his life was cut short at just 39-years old.
Other speakers, including Judge Peter Cory, who presided over the British government’s collusion inquiry into the Finucane murder, former UN Special Rapporteur Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy, and renowned barrister Michael Mansfield all called upon the British government to live up to their promise to grant an independent public inquiry into Finucane’s killing.
Saturday’s conference was the culmination of months of work by the Finucane family. “Pat Finucane: His Life and His Legacy,” was just part of a three day long commemoration. A gala dinner was held on Friday night to thank all those who have supported the family over the past two decades and on Sunday a soccer match was held in the Dublin university grounds and a bench overlooking College Park was dedicated in the attorney’s honor.
During his years as an undergraduate, Finucane played for the Trinity soccer club and captained the team for two consecutive years between 1972 and 1974.
The three day event was not only a renewed call for the British government to live up to its obligation, but also a celebration of Pat Finucane’s life work and how he used his legal talents to bring about change in Northern Ireland during some of the darkest years of the Troubles.
Geraldine Finucane, who has steadfastly led the campaign for the past 20 years, launched the day with a dignified address recalling that through his work as a solicitor, her husband had won a succession of trailblazing legal battles against the British government.
“In his short life, Pat was not prepared to sit by and do nothing. He wanted to participate in the world he lived, to be in it, and not merely on it. He was curious and he was imaginative and he was brave,” she said.
“It is for these reasons that we come here today, 20 years on, to remember him and to celebrate his most remarkable life,” Geraldine said.
Human rights campaigner and chair of Relatives For Justice, Clara Reilly, worked alongside Pat Finucane on many cases of human rights abuse before his murder.
She paid tribute to the legal mind that brought her a resounding victory against interrogation techniques by the British government in 1982.
“I remember being arrested in 1981 and brought to Springfield Road barracks with a rifle to my back and my very first thought was I have to ring Pat Finucane,” she recalled.
“I was held for four hours as they questioned me about my work, and after my release Pat Finucane came to see me and we discussed taking a case against the British government.
“The following year we were in the High Court to hear the process of interrogation they called ‘screening’ was illegal. I remember Pat and I punching the air with delight that the RUC now had to have reasonable grounds to arrest someone.”
In 1979, Pat Finucane set up his Castle Street legal practice with partner Peter Madden. Their fledgling business quickly became known as a pioneering practice prepared to challenge the status quo and act on behalf of ordinary people.
Madden recalled that as their success grew so did threats against their lives, until that fateful day, February 12, 1989 when the worst happened and Pat Finucane was murdered.
Since then, Madden has worked alongside the Finucane family to get to the truth behind his friend’s murder and told the conference he will not rest until that truth is revealed.
“The facts about what happened to Pat will be made public. We will find out what happened to Pat, we will find out who ordered it, we will find out who is responsible and who is accountable.”
Leading barrister Michael Mansfield, who has worked on legal cases for the family of Stephen Lawrence, Jean Charles De Menezes and the Birmingham Six, among others, told the audience there would no lasting peace in the North without justice for the past.
“The British government have to realize that it is not just that Pat Finucane’s case won’t go away but that there will be no lasting peace until there is justice,” he said.
“Pat Finucane represents the tip of the iceberg and the government has to know until the truth is outed, nothing will be right.”
The murky world of collusion, its role in Pat Finucane’s killing and the dark underbelly of secrecy surrounding his death were also discussed at the event. BBC journalist John Ware, who uncovered the role of military intelligence and RUC Special Branch Officers in the murder, spoke about his role in exposing the lengths the two services had gone to disguise their activities.
Audience members, including West Belfast MP Gerry Adams, victims commissioners Patricia McBride and Mike Nesbitt, and members of human rights organizations and victims groups attended the conference.
Families of those who lost their lives in the conflict also gathered to hear how one family’s fight for truth and justice had paved the way for other to do the same.
Paul McIlwaine, whose 18 year-old-son David was stabbed to death alongside his friend Andrew Robb in February 2000, spoke out during the debate.
In an open discussion about the role of defense lawyers he spoke about the important role they play and their need to be protected.
The conference drew to an end with an audience show of hands to support the Finucane family’s call for an independent public inquiry.
As the delegates prepared to head home to the four corners of the globe after gathering to in the Irish capital city to remember one man and his legacy, the day was summed up by Clara Reilly.
“Pat Finucane was an extraordinary man who did extraordinary work for the ordinary people of Ireland, and we will never forget him,” she said.

Other Articles You Might Like

Sign up to our Daily Newsletter

Click to access the login or register cheese