THE British government does not like accountability for its actions in its dominions. In 1989 it was involved in killing an officer of the court, Pat Finucane. The truth of that killing has come dropping slow, leading at last to the announcement that the inquiry, first agreed at Weston Park in 2001, will be held.
Geraldine Finucane and her family have been a beacon of hope and courage since 1989 and despite the trauma, violence (both physical and structural) and hatred visited upon them, they were vindicated by the overdue announcement of a full judicial public inquiry into his murder.
That Hilary Benn couched the announcement as an “unfulfilled commitment” gave us all an indication of what would be next. Every other family affected by the British government’s policy of collusion should know their place. This government would not be listening to the courts of the North who ended the collusion inquests with calls for public inquiries into the killings of Sean Brown, Fergal McCusker, Theresa and Charlie Fox or Jack McKearney. As far as this British government is concerned those coroners can be ignored. The ICRIR with its chief investigator, former Assistant Chief Constable Peter Sheridan, can look after all that.
The intention may have been judged differently had Mr Benn spoken of the grave matter of collusion and the need for the British state to acknowledge and account for this policy, in the 30th year of the IRA ceasefires, if at any point we were not fed the lie that the British state acts neutrally when dealing with the past. How dare he believe he knows better than our Coroners from this jurisdiction? How dare he tell families seeking truth and justice that Britain will act fairly, after they murdered their loved ones and covered it up?
He dares, like every British representative here before him, because he believes that Britain’s sovereignty is a shield from such mundane matters as Irish lives. Britain has never valued our lives, and in the matter of accountability for state collusion with loyalism this has never been as stark.
Of the ten most impoverished councils in the places claimed by the 'United' Kingdom, six are in our jurisdiction. From the north, south, east and west of our enforced statelet we are poorer than those living on the island next to us. That these figures were released at the same time that Casement was denied funding, City Deals 'paused', and New Labour's new austerity became a reality, we can only conclude that this is deliberate, and structural violence is a new form of discrimination against us.
The Good Friday Agreement says we can consent to stay or to leave this form of unaccountable rule, once this same British government representative decides we might like to go. Given this representative is deaf to bereaved relatives, our poor and our elected representatives, the truth is that those who wish to be offered that constitutional choice will need to be stronger and clearer. While Britain, and its malign intent remains, building relationships and reconciliation will be deliberately stymied. We need a date for our choice, before even more harm is done.
