By announcing a statutory public inquiry into the killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, has made a virtue out of a necessity.
The court of appeal in Belfast had given the British government until this month to confirm what form of human rights-compliant investigation it intended to undertake into the murder.
It is unlikely anything other than a public inquiry would have sufficed. Prevarication was an option but it is to the Labour government’s credit that it grasped the nettle so firmly.
The decision follows a 35-year campaign by Finucane’s widow Geraldine to shed light on the British state’s collusion in the assassination of her husband by a UDA gunman in their family home.
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The Finucane family and their supporters have long believed that only a statutory inquiry could get to the truth and in 2001 the UK government agreed to one as part of wider agreement on Northern Ireland following talks held at Weston Park. A similar commitment was made in 2004 when a member of the UDA was convicted for his role in the killing. London backtracked on both these commitments.
Geraldine Finucane has described Benn’s decision as a potential “watershed moment” in dealing with legacy cases in Northern Ireland. She may well be right, but much depends on how the promised inquiry proceeds and the approach adopted by the UK government, in particular the extent to which its security services participate.
A determination to shield itself and the potentially illegal actions of its security services from unwelcome scrutiny underlies the foot dragging by the British government that left the Finucane family waiting 35 years for answers.
It is also one of the driving forces behind the discredited Legacy Act brought in by the previous Conservative government. The Act sought to put a halt to future investigations, inquiries and inquests while offering immunity to those who cooperated with an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.
The Act was opposed by all sides in Northern Ireland and following a court challenge on human rights grounds is now effectively neutered. Labour is committed to repealing the Act but is hazy on what will replace it – other than something compliant with the European Charter of Human Rights.
By making a brave decision regarding the Finucane case, Benn has given himself some breathing space in which to try to square this circle. It also the right thing to do.
What now happens will have a significant bearing on whether Labour will succeed where many others have failed in seeking to draw a much-needed line under the Troubles. However, it is a promising start.