The family of murdered Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane began new court action against the British government today in an attempt to force it to set up a public inquiry immediately into the killing.
The move came after the High Court in Belfast yesterday agreed to a British application for a three-week adjournment of an action by the Finucane family seeking to compel Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy to publish reports into the killing and three others that he has been sitting on for over four months.
The reports, drawn up by retired Canadian Supreme Court Judge Peter Cory, examined allegations of security force collusion in the murders.
The Dublin Government was also given reports on two killings - of two senior RUC officers and a High Court judge and his wife - amid allegations of collusion with the IRA by certain members of the Garda.
Those reports were published in December and a public inquiry ordered into the murders of the two policemen - on their way back across the border from a meeting with gardaí in Dundalk.
In the absence of publication of the reports by the British government, the families of those killed have been fighting a legal battle to get the reports published. Judge Cory has told them privately he recommended public inquiries in each case.
Mr Peter Madden, of Madden & Finucane, the family solicitors, said: "The British government continues to delay and obstruct the establishment of the inquiry. The establishment of the inquiry does not depend upon the publication of the Cory Report.
"These new proceedings relate to the immediate establishment of the inquiry despite the non-publication of the Cory Report. No matter how many obstructions or delays, the Finucane family is determined to vindicate their legal rights and pursue all legal remedies to achieve their objective."
PA