The Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, has announced the names of the panel members who will hold inquiries into the controversial killings of Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Billy Wright, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor.
The hearings, on the basis on which they were established, will be conducted in public although where it is judged that there is a risk to life or to British security, evidence will be heard in private, according to the Northern Ireland Office. "Nothing, however, will be withheld from the panels," said an NIO source.
Demands for these inquiries constituted part of the political negotiations over recent years designed to lead to a fully operational Northern Executive and Assembly.
It is viewed as no coincidence that the announcement comes as the Irish and British governments today privately present the DUP and Sinn Féin with proposals for restoring devolution.
The inquiries were called on the recommendation of Judge Peter Cory, a retired Canadian judge, who also urged an investigation into the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.
Following the Leeds Castle talks in September, the British government committed itself to holding an inquiry into Mr Finucane's murder by the UDA. The family however wants the inquiry to be held fully in public and is withholding approval of this inquiry until it has assurances about its terms of reference.
Judge Cory also investigated whether there was Garda collusion in the 1987 IRA murders of Lord Justice Gibson and Lady Gibson but found "there is simply no evidence of collusion on which to base a decision to hold a public inquiry".
The Northern Secretary, Mr Murphy, explained that in the Nelson, Hamill and Wright cases each panel will be chaired by a judge and will include both a member with specialist expertise and a lay member. He said terms of reference were deliberately drawn to "allow the inquiries to consider both the allegations of collusion that have been made in these cases and also the issue of possible negligence".