Widow says time for truth as public inquiry into Pat Finucane murder announced
The widow of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane has said it is time for the truth to come out about his killing after “35 years of cover-ups”.
Geraldine Finucane was speaking after the Government ordered a public inquiry into the collusion-linked loyalist paramilitary murder of the lawyer in 1989.
Mr Finucane, 39, was shot dead at his family home in north Belfast by the Ulster Defence Association in an attack found by a series of probes to have involved collusion with the state.
His widow and the couple’s three children have been campaigning for decades for a public inquiry to establish the extent of security force involvement.
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn made the announcement to the House of Commons.
Speaking later in Belfast, Mrs Finucane said it had been a “long journey” to this point.
She said: “I look forward to having the opportunity to participate in a statutory inquiry and expose publicly the whole truth behind the murder of my husband.
“This has always been the objective of the campaign that my family and I have pursued for the last 35 years.
“We have only ever been concerned with uncovering the truth.
“It is this that has kept us going. It is the thing that has been missing, all these years.”
Mrs Finucane became emotional as she delivered her statement.
She said she did not believe the murder of her husband was “simply the work of gunmen who killed him”.
She added: “An independent, statutory public inquiry is and was the only way to bring the whole truth behind the murder of Pat Finucane into the light of day.”
Mrs Finucane said she believed the public inquiry could be a “watershed moment” in dealing with legacy cases in Northern Ireland.
She added: “If a public inquiry in to the murder of Pat Finucane can finally publicly examine all of the collusion that plagued our society for so many years, then there is hope that the real process of healing can begin.
“The murder of Pat Finucane is the last remaining Weston Park case.
“It is high time it was properly investigated, publicly examined, and finally resolved.
“I believe that my family deserve this after so many years. Pat Finucane deserves this after so many years.
“Society as a whole deserves this, after so many years. After 35 years of cover-ups, it is time for truth.”
Mrs Finucane received a round of applause from supports as she finished speaking.