Pat Finucane : Tony Blair's Failed Promise - Read what the murdered solicitor's son had to say in 2007

My dad's murder is part of the last conflict demon

The decision by the director of public prosecutions not to prosecute any army or Royal Ulster Constabulary officers over the role in the murder of my dad, Pat Finucane, is disappointing but not surprising. Perhaps the most curious thing about the decision is that it makes a perverse kind of sense. After all, why prosecute people for doing the job you asked them to do in the first place?

This is what is at stake in the issue of collusion, and prosecuting people would have opened a murky world the government wanted kept hidden. In fact, the word "collusion" has become the adjective of choice for what was, in reality, British government policy in Northern Ireland since the 1970s.
The official version was that state agents were infiltrating Loyalist paramilitary organisations in order to prevent what they were planning to do. There are problems with this explanation. Firstly, the activities continued despite the existence of agents, and many people were still being murdered. Secondly, this explanation conflicts with the internal reports of one of the main agencies responsible for running the agents.
State collusion with paramilitaries remains a festering sore in the way of rehabilitation from conflict-riven wasteland to modern, autonomously governed democracy. The responsibility here lies firmly with the government, which has never accepted that the state was a participant in the conflict.
This is the last conflict demon to be exorcised in Northern Ireland and if the society we hope to create is to have the best chance of overcoming the past then the truth must out. The answer is to expose and confront the facts. An independent public judicial inquiry, invested with all necessary powers and autonomy to do the job required, is the only vessel capable of bringing Northern Ireland across its last Rubicon.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/jun/28/comment.northernireland

Pat Finucane : Cameron - Why Did He Renege On Pat Finucane Deal - WHAT Have They Got To Hide ?

 

Owen Paterson and David Cameron

 

By Barry McCaffrey

IT WAS on the verge of resolving one of the most controversial murders of the Troubles and securing the backing of Pat Finucane’s family for an agreed inquiry into the solicitor’s murder – so why did the British government instead send them packing?

Geraldine Finucane travelled to Downing Street yesterday believing Prime Minister David Cameron was about to offer a compromise inquiry which would have been acceptable to both her family and the British government but in the event they were offered a behind-the-scenes review of the paperwork by a lawyer – a move the government is bound to have known would only inflame speculation that it has much more to hide in this case.
Mrs Finucane, who has campaigned for more than 20 years for an independent inquiry into allegations that elements of the British government ordered her husband’s murder in 1989, is understood to have been optimistic that an agreement was in sight.

The Detail understands that the government had put forward proposals to the Finucane family during discussions earlier this year in which it promised to establish a public inquiry which would be free from any government attempts to withhold key evidence.

Crucially, it was government lawyers and not the Finucane family, who suggested the compromise, which looked set to resolve the 22-year dispute.

John Finucane / Belfast Media Group archive

 

But what unfolded shocked even a family which thought itself well-used to disappointment and cover-up.

The Finucane party: Pat’s widow Geraldine, their children, Michael, Katherine and John; Pat’s brothers Martin and Seamus; his business partner, Peter Madden and campaigner, Jane Winter, arrived at Downing Street on Tuesday afternoon.

Cameron entered the room, accompanied by the Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson and Cameron’s private secretary. Cameron got straight down to business and, initially, things looked promising, according to John Finucane:

“He came into the room and apologised to us on behalf of the British government for the collusion in my father’s murder.
“He also apologised for all the delays and broken promises which successive British governments have made to us for the last 10 years.

“We fully expected at that point that he was going to announce to us that he was going to allow an inquiry into my father’s murder.

“We had been led to believe for more than a year that this was what was going to happen.

“Instead he proceeded to inform us that he had asked a barrister to review papers in the case and report back to the Secretary of State. It was a total insult.”

Geraldine Finucane / Irish News archive

A public slapping-down

The meeting was abruptly ended by Geraldine Finucane when it became clear the Prime Minister was determined to rule out any inquiry.

Said John Finucane: “I think Mummy had had enough, she just said she didn’t want to hear anymore.

“She said she wanted the meeting to end.”

Outside 10 Downing Street, Mrs Finucane said her rage was such that she could barely speak.

So where does this surprise development leave the Finucanes?

There has been a predictably angry response from nationalist and human rights quarters, but it’s not clear what, if any momentum the Finucanes can hope to garner to get the inquiry they insist is needed into the murder of Pat Finucane.

Cameron’s handling of this case has surprised those who heaped praise on him for his handling of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry and its findings last year – he unequivocally apologised to the victims and gave his full backing to the work of the inquiry.

His treatment of the Finucanes, in contrast, appears to renege on the international agreement his government made with its Irish counterparts at Weston Park in 2001 to hold an inquiry into the Finucane murder and the murders of Billy Wright, Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Harry Breen and Bob Buchanan; all the others have taken place, bar the Breen/Buchanan inquiry which is currently running in Dublin.

What have they got to hide?

British/Irish Rights Watch spokeswoman Jane Winter, who took part in the Downing Street meeting, said she was convinced that there are some individuals in the highest echleons of the British establishment who do not want their role in the events surrounding Pat Finucane’s murder to become public.

“I have come to the conclusion that there is something about Patrick Finucane’s death that successive governments have tried to hide and still want to hide,” she said.

“There’s something so utterly damning that they don’t want the public to know.”

Referring to the detailed discussions which had taken place between Downing Street officials and the Finucane’s lawyers, Ms Winter said:

“There have been extensive talks for over a year between the two legal teams.

“All the talk was about what sort of public inquiry could be agreed.

“It certainly was more than what was offered by David Cameron.”

The Government appears to have set its face against any further discussion on the parameters of the Finucane probe. In spite of the family’s clear unwillingness to support the paperwork review, it is pressing ahead regardless as a Downing Street spokesman subsequently made clear:

“The prime minister expressed his profound sympathy for the family and said it was clear from (the) Stevens and Cory (inquiries) that state collusion had taken place in Mr Finucane’s murder and he accepted these conclusions.

“On behalf of the government he apologised to the family.

“He confirmed that the government’s priority was to get to the truth in the best and most effective way and the secretary of state will set out the details for this process shortly.”

http://www.thedetail.tv/issues/30/finucanes-meet-cameron/why-did-cameron-renege-on-pat-finucane-deal

The Ghost Of Pat Finucane Still Stalks The British.

Geraldine Finucane / Irish News archive

 

By Chris Moore

IN THE Northern Ireland lexicon the word collusion is synonymous with the name of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

His killing in front of his wife and children in February 1989 has led his family on a long 22-year journey seeking the truth of British State collusion in his death.

Bookmakers would have stopped taking bets on whether there would be a public inquiry into Pat Finucane’s death. But the bookmakers sometimes get it wrong.

At virtually every step along the route followed by the Finucane family since 1989, the indications were pointing strongly to a public inquiry – the only uncertainty appeared to be what form the public inquiry would take.

The Finucane family held strong together – suspicious of the British Government and seeking an independent inquiry. They got international support from lawyers and governments.

The demand for an independent public inquiry has never waned.
The first official vindication for the family’s firmly held belief that there was security force collusion in Pat Finucane’s murder came from an English police officer appointed to examine allegations of collusion in the murder by the loyalist killer gang the UFF of Loughlin Maginn – a 28-year-old Catholic shot dead in August 1989.

Sir John Stevens arrived in Northern Ireland a month after the Maginn killing and seven months after Pat Finucane’s murder to investigate security force collusion with Loyalist paramilitaries. It was the first of three inquiries Stevens conducted here spanning 15 years.

Stevens quickly switched his focus on to UDA intelligence officer Brian Nelson who was a British Army agent. Nelson, it transpired, had given a warning about the pending attack on Pat Finucane. Nelson was jailed for 10 years on charges of conspiracy to murder.

By the time John Stevens returned for his third and final inquiry concluded in 2003 that there was no doubt that members of the security forces colluded with the loyalist killers of Pat Finucane. It had taken Stevens 14 years to be able to come to this conclusion.

By then, of course, an RUC Special Branch loyalist informant and quartermaster William Stobie had emerged with information about how he supplied the guns used to kill Pat Finucane. Stobie was charged with murder in 1999 but by November 2001 the case against Stobie collapsed. Stobie had little time to enjoy his freedom. He was shot dead within a month.

But there’s little doubt that Stobie’s contribution to the issue of State collusion in the murder of Pat Finucane was an important factor in helping Sir John arrive at the conclusion that there was collusion involving members of the security forces.

The Finucane family called for a full and independent public inquiry.

A year later there was even more evidence of collusion in the Finucane murder. This time it came from retired Canadian Judge Peter Cory who stated in his damning report that there was enough evidence of collusion to warrant a public inquiry.
Cory’s finding should have triggered a full independent public inquiry.

After all, that’s what the British Government agreed to when it signed an internationally binding agreement with the Irish government at Weston Park in Staffordshire in 2001. The agreement on the Finucane murder was that if Judge Cory found evidence of collusion the British would would hold a public inquiry.

But it didn’t. In fact, what happened was that the British moved quickly to get a new law passed in Westminster giving ministers the power to block evidence. So by the time Secretary of State Paul Murphy got around to offering to hold an inquiry under the new Inquiries Act 2005, the Finucane family could see the shortcomings and were in no mood to accept this offer.

However, the Cory report instigated five other inquiries – including investigations into the murders of solicitor Rosemary Nelson, Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright and Robert Hamill.

Judge Cory accused the British government of `moving the goalposts’ following its decision to introduce new legislation which would allow it to withhold evidence from an inquiry into Pat Finucane’s murder.

Judge Cory said he did not know what the national security interest was in limiting an inquiry into the solicitor’s murder.
“It’s like playing hockey and instead of six to each team you have one team with eight and one with four, “ he said.

“See how you do for 10 minutes and then we’re going to change.
“In the middle of everything you move the goalposts and you change the rules of the game.”

Blood Sunday Inquiry chairman Lord Saville was also highly critical of the legislation to block a full inquiry into the solicitor’s murder.

Warning that the decision to give government minister the power to withhold evidence would make “a very serious inroad into the independence of any inquiry; and is likely to damage or destroy public confidence in the inquiry and its findings”, he said:
“As a Judge, I must tell you that I would not be prepared to be appointed as a member of an inquiry that was subject to a provision of this kind."

During 13 years of Labour rule there was little to encourage the Finucane family. Prime Minister Tony Blair supported the changes in the Inquiries Act 2005 although he took time out to reassure the family. “Trust me,” he told them – promising that everything would be all right.

But it wasn’t all right. And it wasn’t all right with the changing of the guard when David Cameron and Nick Clegg decided to share power although to hear the shadow Northern Ireland secretary Shaun Woodward at his party’s conference a few weeks ago the Finucane family could see once again the role of party politics.

Mr Woodward told the conference that Tony Blair had promised the Finucanes a public inquiry and he went further when he claimed that a year ago he asked Owen Paterson, current secretary of state for Northern Ireland, to honour Mr Blair’s commitment.

But Mr Paterson is not popular with Pat Finucane’s widow Geraldine. He has been threatening to make a decision about what type of public inquiry the government is prepared to support since November last year. That was when he met the Finucane family.

In January this year Mr Paterson said he needed a few months to consult on the issue of a public inquiry and then in July – after yet another announced delay from Mr Paterson – Mrs Finucane had this to say: “It is an untenable and insensitive situation and confirms my belief that the policy of delay continues.”

It was made clear by the Northern Ireland secretary that he had to consider a number of issues – including potential costs.
It’s clear the British have no heart or budget to meet the kind of costs they paid for the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday – a 12-year inquiry that costs nearly £200m.

Add that to the estimated cost of the 15-years of John Stevens inquiries – not far off another £100m and it may well have been a factor.

Another issue, according to the secretary of state, is whether or not a public inquiry was in the public interest.

It’s clear from the decision passed on to the Finucane family yesterday in London that Mr Paterson and the British government clearly think it is not in the public interest.

However, the Finucane’s and lawyers all across the world will take a different spin on the decision to only conduct a review…that a full judicial public inquiry is not in the British government’s interests.

The outcome of yesterday’s discomfort at Number 10 Downing Street is that the murder of Pat Finucane remains an unwelcome ghost in the corridors of British power.


http://www.thedetail.tv/issues/30/finucanes-meet-cameron/the-ghost-of-pat-finucane-still-stalks-the-british

#Leveson Inquiry :#Frontline Video - Murdoch's Scandal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILRr_v_C38U&feature=relmfu

#Finucane : Video - Cameron Stands By Finucane Stance.

The Prime Minister held a meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny in London on Monday, during which there was agreement on improving links between Britain and Ireland.

However the leaders continue to remain at odds over how the 1989 death of Mr Finucane, who was gunned down by loyalist paramilitaries, should be investigated.

The Finucane family want a Bloody Sunday-style independent inquiry into allegations of collusion between the killers and security forces - and are supported by Mr Kenny.

However David Cameron has ruled that out and instead offered an 18-month long QC-led review into the circumstances of the murder, with no participation from the family.

 David Cameron refuses to change his position on Pat Finucane review. Enda Kenny says he supports family call for judge led Inquiry

12 Mar 12

Speaking after Monday's talks at Number 10 Downing Street, Mr Cameron defended his stance.

He said: "It's not the nature of the review that matters - what matters is getting to the truth.
"I don't think it's necessary for us to have a lengthy, judge-led, judicial review, with all the problems and costs and expense and time that that takes."

Mr Kenny also vowed to stand by his position and pledged to continue making the case for a full review, adding: "I have a difference of opinion here with the Prime Minister".

The pair did agree that relations between the two nations have improved significantly in recent years, following on from the Queen's historic visit to the Republic in 2011.

A wide-ranging, ten-year co-operation deal was signed and Mr Cameron expressed "continuing and unqualified support" for the Good Friday Agreement.

He said: "We are determined not to roll back on our heels in this moment but actually roll up our sleeves and make the relationship mean even more."

Mr Kenny said: "It covers a very broad spectrum of reality here ... recognising that the relationship between Ireland and Britain is now at an unprecedentedly high level of co-operation and interaction in trade and business which is to the benefit of both."

http://www.u.tv/News/Cameron-stands-by-Finucane-stance/151f88ff-d797-44ad-9792-48b75a651eed

#RUC #IRA #SecretCourts : Video - Northern Ireland Police Torture !

An RUC interrogator speaks: Northern Ireland's forced confessions revealed

Hundreds of men and women found guilty of terrorism during the Troubles in Northern Ireland are planning to appeal. Most of them were convicted on the basis of confessions they say were beaten out of them by police. A Guardian investigation has uncovered evidence from former police interrogators that the brutality was routine and sanctioned at a very high level

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2010/oct/11/northern-ireland-police-torture?CMP=twt_gu

Patrick #Finucane :They Work For You - Question - March 12th 2012

Lord Dubs (Labour)

 

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect the lack of a public inquiry into the death of Pat Finucane may have on British-Irish relations and on the Finucane family.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2012-03-12a.9.1