British and Irish government officials will meet next week to discuss the mounting demands for an independent inquiry into the murder of the Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane 10 years ago.
Ms Liz O'Donnell, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, wrote to the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, this week to express concern about the Finucane killing. She also furnished Dr Mowlam with correspondence relating to the murder.
Amid allegations of British army and/or RUC collusion in the solicitor's murder, carried out by the UDA in 1989, the British and Irish officials will discuss how the matter should be pursued, a Government source explained. Unionist politicians have come out in defence of the RUC, claiming that there was an ongoing campaign to "smear the force" before the publication of the Patten Commission's report on policing later this year.
Mr Nigel Dodds, the DUP Assembly member for North Belfast, yesterday called on the British government to "get off the fence and start defending the RUC at home and internationally".
Mr Jim Rodgers, the honorary secretary of the Ulster Unionist Party, said he was appalled that so much criticism of the force was going unchallenged.