Ahead of Downing Street meeting, calls for public inquiry into Pat Finucane murder

AHEAD of today's Downing Street meeting between Taoiseach Simon Harris and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald has called on the Taoiseach to press the case for a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. 

Mr Finucane was shot dead by a UDA gang at his North Belfast home in front of his family in February 1989. Subsequent official reports concluded that there was collusion between loyalists and the British state in the murder, for which former Prime Minister David Cameron apologised on behalf of the British government.

Last week while delivering his latest judgement, while dismissing an appeal by the Secretary of State, Lord Justice Horner gave the British government and Pat Finucane’s wife, Geraldine, three weeks to agree an Article 2 compliant investigation into the human right’s solicitor’s murder.

Speaking in advance of today's meeting – which is the first between the Taoiseach and the UK Prime Minister since Labour's landslide general election victory earlier this month – Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said: “In 2019, the Supreme Court in London declared that previous investigations commissioned by successive British governments into the murder of Pat Finucane by loyalists to have failed to meet the standards required by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

“For decades now, Mrs Geraldine Finucane and her family have led a dignified campaign for truth and justice, seeking a public inquiry into her late husband’s murder. They have rightly received strong support from Sinn Féin and the Irish Government in this regard.

“Regrettably, the British government has not adequately or sufficiently responded to that 2019 Supreme Court judgment, forcing Mrs Finucane to fight a series of legal battles.

“In the latest case last week, the Court of Appeal set out a timetable for action, requiring the British government to respond within three weeks and agree to an Article 2 compliant investigation into Pat Finucane’s murder.

“I have written to the Taoiseach to urge him to raise the matter directly with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer when they meet today and to urgently press the case for a public inquiry to be held which is long overdue and decision time draws near.”