There will be no compromise in the pursuit of a public inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.
The Finucane family said Mr Ahern made it clear to them that the Government would not support an inquiry that was not completely open.
Michael Finucane, the son of the murdered solicitor, said Mr Ahern had given the family assurances that he would push British authorities to set up a hearing under commitments made during political negotiations.
Mr Finucane said: "He made it clear as far as the Irish Government was concerned that there would be no compromise on the issue."
He revealed that Mr Ahern had written to British Prime Minister Tony Blair saying that a public inquiry into the 1989 killing by loyalists was the only way forward.
"It [Dublin] will not support the Inquiries Bill if it becomes an Act of law and it will not support an inquiry established under that Act into the murder of Pat Finucane. It will support the family's position," Mr Finucane added.
The family, who held an hour-long meeting with Mr Ahern in Dublin, said he had offered his strongest support for an open investigation into the death as recommended by Canadian Judge Peter Cory and as agreed under the Weston Park Agreement.
Following the Weston Park talks in 2001, the British government agreed that if a public inquiry was recommended by Judge Cory it would be initiated. Under the Inquiries Bill, which provides the framework for a hearing into Mr Finucane's murder, a British government minister can rule whether the inquiry sits in public or private. The family have claimed this goes against the Weston Park Agreement.
Pat Finucane was gunned down by the UDA in front of his family at his north Belfast home in February 1989. His killer Ken Barrett pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 22 years last September at Belfast Crown Court.
The murder was one of the most controversial of the 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland amid allegations of collusion between rogue members of British army intelligence, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and loyalist paramilitaries.