Irish Republican News · April 7, 2004

Any truth process must be neutral - SF

Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams has described the outcome of a meeting with British Direct Ruler Paul Murphy on the British government's response to the Cory reports as `totally unsatisfactory'.

Sinn Féin had requested the meeting after the British government refused to to abide by Cory's recommendation for a public inquiry into the 1989 killing of Belfast defence lawyer Pat Finucane.

The party was also responding to reports that Britain wanted to institute a South-African style truth and reconciliation commission.

Speaking after the meeting Mr. Adams revealed that has has written to both the Irish and British Prime Ministers on these issues.

``At the meeting this morning we put it very directly to Paul Murphy that there should be an immediate, independent international inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane and I have to say that instead of facing up to that issue he retreated into the double-speak of Weston Park. It was a totally unsatisfactory outcome.''

The Sinn Féin delegation, which included Assembly members Bairbre de Brun and Philip McGuigan, warned Mr Murphy that the refusal of this government to face up to issues which occurred in the time of other governments was ``contaminating the broad view of Mr. Blair's attitude on these issues'' among nationalists and republicans.

The party alsi insisted that any discussions about any truth processes would have to be ``independent of [British] stewardship and international''.

Mr Adams added: ``There is clearly no way that a British government can facilitate or take responsibility for such processes as the British government is a protagonist, a combatant in this situation.''

Mr Adams also pointed out that the culmination of the Cory investigation, the Stevens investigation and others was to prove that there ``was collusion between the agencies of the state and unionist paramilitaries in the killing of citizens''. He said he put it directly to Paul Murphy that ``this is the crux issue which the government is behaving in a cowardly way about. It is refusing to face up to its responsibilities in this matter''.

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