Republican News · Thursday 27 June 2002

Finucane "will rock the foundations of the British state"

BY LAURA FRIEL

Mr Blair is now part of the problem because he is delaying the search for the truth. - Michael Finucane

The British government is resisting a full public inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane because it could "rock the foundations of the British state", the son of the murdered Belfast solicitor told a press conference this week. 30-year-old Michael Finucane was accompanied by his sister Katherine (25) and brother John (22).

"We, the three children of Pat Finucane, are here to make absolutely clear that a public inquiry is the only way all the questions of the murder of Pat Finucane can be properly addressed and answers sought," said Michael Finucane.

"The Panorama program that has given rise to intense interest and debate about the Finucane case centred as much on the role of British Military Intelligence and the RUC as it did on the effects that various murders had on the families of those people killed, particularly the immediate family, the wives and children of the murder victim," said the Dublin-based solicitor.

"I think it is a tribute to every family who appeared in that programme, not just our own, that they are still willing and able to stand up and argue for inquiries into their cases and to seek answers," he said. The responsibility for answering those questions lies "at the door of No 10 Downing Street and Prime Minister Tony Blair".

Blair has insisted, he said, that the appropriate way to deal with the questions arising out of the Finucane case and the broader question of collusion in general was to pursue the option of having John Stevens reinvestigate the case.

"That is not adequate, nor is it adequate to encroach upon the international credibility and integrity of jurors such as Judge Cory. This is an issue for the British government. They are ultimately responsible," said Michael Finucane.

The Finucane family told Tony Blair two years ago that although they accepted that his administration did not cause all the events that led to the deaths of Pat Finucane and many others, he could provide the solution. "Mr Blair is now part of the problem because he is delaying the search for the truth," said Michael Finucane.

Asked about the pending publication of the current Stevens' inquiry, Michael Finucane pointed out that the two previous reports by John Stevens had not been published in full.

"The suspicions of the Stevens team carrying out the investigation in the late '80s and early '90s were all forthrightly aired in the Panorama programme and those suspicions have not gone away.

"But I don't believe the Stevens investigation that is currently drawing to a conclusion can properly investigate everything because it is only a police investigation."

Responding to a question regarding the British Prime Minister's fears, Michael Finucane said Tony Blair should be very worried about where the evidence leads:

"I think he is worried and I think he realises that this could rock the foundations of the British state, that has so long prided itself upon being the epitome of law and order. Here, right in its own back yard, it is being charged with the most serious of crimes a government could be charged with."

"There are obvious questions that need answers which have never been given to my family or anyone else. Why was Pat Finucane targeted? Why was he never warned that he was a target?

"And are the military intelligence documents we presented to the British and Irish governments three years ago genuine? If they are genuine, then the British government had a policy of assassinating its own citizens."

Responding to a question about loyalist gunman Ken Barrett and part of the loyalist gang who killed Pat Finucane, Michael Finucane said there were many, many people who have questions to answer about his father's killing.

Michael pointed out that all the information about Barrett aired by the television documentary had been "in the hands of the authorities for over a decade".

Barrett was a paid state agent and the parallels of his case with the collapsed prosecution of Special Branch agent William Stobie "are all too evident". He went on to say that a public inquiry rather than a criminal prosecution provided the proper arena to establish the truth.

"This is not about events on the ground but about how the chain of command and the political chain of command operated and an inquiry must follow this right up to the source wherever that source may be."

Asked if he believed state collusion went right to Downing Street, Michael Finucane said that in the absence of anything else to convince him otherwise, "yes, I do". He went on to say that he thought the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher should be called before an independent inquiry.

Questioned about Thatcher's role, Michael Finucane said as British Prime Minister of the day she "is implicated in all of this and obviously has a strong connection to all this. What that connection is should be established".

Asked if Tony Blair knows the answers to the questions sought, Michael Finucane said he thought the British Prime Minister was "unwilling to look".

Michael Finucane dismissed the notion that collusion could be attributed to 'renegades'. He said there was a distinct possibility that collusion was state sanctioned and that his father's murder was a result of a conspiracy that involved those "at the very top of the pyramid of power."

When Tony Blair established a public inquiry into Bloody Sunday he cited as his reason the need for the state to be assured that its actions were right especially where its own forces were involved, he said.

"If there is one thing no one is going to dispute with me, it is that the state's own forces were clearly involved in the Pat Finucane killing and other killings," said Michael Finucane. "So why is there no public inquiry?

"I think what Tony Blair needs to realise is that this is not going away. It is a case that has proceeded at a very forthright pace for 13 years and will continue to do so and he needs to realise a very simple truth.

"If he deals with this case in a proper manner then he can give everyone a chance to move on from it. If he wants the future he preaches so often to us, then he needs to have the strength of his convictions."