British reaction: The Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, distanced the British government from Judge Peter Cory's report yesterday as he confirmed public inquiries into the murders of Mrs Rosemary Nelson, Mr Robert Hamill and Mr Billy Wright.
In his long-awaited statement to MPs, Mr Murphy also confirmed to the SDLP MP, Mr Eddie McGrady, that a fourth inquiry would take place into the murder of Mr Pat Finucane once pending criminal proceedings have been completed.
"This government has shown repeatedly that the state is open to scrutiny for its actions," Mr Murphy declared.
"We established the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. The investigation by Sir John Stevens continues and has yielded prosecutions. We appointed Judge Cory with the Irish Government. Wrongdoers will be brought to justice."
At the same time Mr Murphy said the British government had not "taken a view" on Judge Cory's findings, which were "necessarily provisional".
In a barely coded criticism of the retired member of the Canadian Supreme Court, Mr Murphy told MPs: "Justice Cory's approach has been to adopt a very wide definition of collusion which covers both inaction as well as actions, and patterns of behaviour as well as individual acts of collusion."
And he disclosed: "We have considered carefully our obligation to ensure fairness to individuals.
"At our request, Justice Cory has added a foreword to the reports which makes clear that it was not his task to make final determinations of fact or attributions of responsibility. His findings are necessarily provisional."
In the prelude to his announcement of the terms of the three inquiries Mr Murphy also said: "I want to make clear at the outset the unequivocal view of the government that, without the professional and steadfast work of the police, army, prison service and many others in the wider public service over many years, we would not have achieved the progress we have made towards securing a permanent peace and enduring reconciliation.
"That is, I believe, both a justified and necessary acknowledgment which I warmly give to this House."
Prior to Mr Murphy's statement the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, reflected the British government's evident desire to move beyond inquiries of the kind announced yesterday and to find a mechanism for dealing with past events while better aiding the process of reconciliation.
Mr Blair told his monthly press conference in Downing Street he had asked Mr Murphy to begin a consultation process after Easter about finding "some way of trying both to allow people to express their grief, their pain and their anger in respect of what has happened in Northern Ireland without the past continually dominating the present and the future."
He did not know "whether necessarily a Truth and Reconciliation Commission is the right way to do it", although Whitehall sources last night acknowledged that there might be some lessons to be drawn from the South African experience.
Similar comments by Mr Murphy in the Commons were plainly designed to meet unionist complaints about what Mr Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP termed "a hierarchy of victimhood in Northern Ireland".
His colleague, Mr Nigel Dodds, said many there believed "there should be an inquiry into the role and conduct of those who aspire to government, like Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams."
The Conservative spokesman, Mr David Lidington, said the government had been wrong to proceed with "a foolish pledge" made in the Weston Park negotiations in 2001.
While allegations against the security forces were of the utmost gravity, and it was their duty to uphold and be subject to the law, Mr Lidington said, it would be "the greatest travesty of justice" if the actions of a few were allowed to taint the reputations of those who had risked their lives to fight "wicked and evil" terrorists.
Mr Lidington told Mr Murphy his action had "in effect ruled out the prospect of future criminal prosecutions" and was unlikely to "help build the reconciliation you rightly seek".
While overall the Commons exchanges were surprisingly low-key, the intervention of the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, brought a furious reaction from the family of Mr Pat Finucane in Belfast.
Mr Trimble said he had warned Mr Blair that having the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday would be a mistake, which he now saw "reinforced".
He continued: "If as a result . . . the truth about Finucane and Nelson comes into the public domain incontrovertibly then there will be some side-effect."
Mr Trimble said comments made by Judge Cory about Mr Finucane showed "astonishing naivety" and ignored facts which were known to everybody in Northern Ireland.