British Government Finally Grants
Finucane Family an Inquiry

Back in February 1989, George H.W. Bush had just succeeded Ronald Reagan as U.S. president. Margaret Thatcher was the British prime minister, and the conflict in Northern Ireland had another decade to run.

Pat Finucane, a 39-year-old human rights lawyer living in Belfast, was shot dead in his home by members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) on 12 February of that year. He was having dinner with his wife and three young children when the attack happened. He died at the scene. His wife, Geraldine, was also injured in the attack. 

This week, after 35 years of campaigning by his family, the British government finally agreed to establish an independent public inquiry into his murder.

Various British governments over the years have offered quasi-investigations into what happened, and have admitted “frankly shocking levels of collusion” between their security forces and the paramilitaries who killed him. These reviews and inquiries have provided half answers but not the full truth.

The investigation announced this week is what the Finucane family has asked for. The full truth made public is likely to be dangerously embarrassing for the British government, threatening to expose the workings of its network of informers and agents inside paramilitary groups, including those who committed murder.

My organization, Human Rights First, was among the first to take up the case when we were known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and in 2003 we recognized Geraldine Finucane with a human rights award for her campaigning for the truth.

Many others have since been part of the effort led by the Finucane family. These include many Human Rights First staff over the decades and those who made contributions to fund our work. Other international NGOs and Irish American organizations have played a huge part in getting the inquiry established, and for many years U.S. members of Congress kept the pressure on the British government to make the truth public.

All of this effort shouldn’t have been necessary. The Finucanes should not have had to do the job of the British government in digging for clues; they shouldn’t have had to crisscross the Atlantic for decades to encourage U.S. support, or spend 35 exhausting years fighting for the truth about the murder.

This week, after the British government’s announcement, Geraldine Finucane said “We have only ever been concerned with uncovering the truth. It is this that has kept us going. It is the thing that has been missing, all these years. We did not believe that his murder was simply the work of gunmen who killed him.”

Details of the inquiry, when it will start, the specific terms of reference, and the judge or judges are still be to announced.  British security forces have a long record of obstructing similar investigations (see the Bitter Legacy report, p. 46), and getting to the full truth won’t be easy.

Irish America will be following the inquiry and reporting on it. ♦

Follow Brian on Twitter @dooley_dooley