WHILE the announcement on Wednesday afternoon by Secretary of State Hilary Benn of an independent public inquiry into the 1989 murder of Pat Finucane can never be a cause for celebration, the Finucane family are entitled to at least take a breath and draw quiet satisfaction from this – the single most important victory to date in their long battle for justice.
The all-important technical details of the public inquiry will be key in getting to the truth of what we already know to be one of the most outrageous assaults on the very concept of justice in the modern history of the United Kingdom. But the murder of an officer of the law by a state-controlled killer gang demands an inquiry remit that is comprehensive and far-reaching.
There’s little doubt that the election of a Labour government in London has opened up this opportunity to get to the truth about the murder of Pat Finucane. And while the inquiry will concern itself with the singular details of this one brutal slaying, it will serve as an overarching indicator of the deadly and secret truth of the British state’s dark forces in Ireland.
