'Devastated': public inquiry into murder of GAA official is rejected
Kurtis Reid, Belfast Telegraph, September 14th, 2024
The family of a murdered GAA official have been told by the Government that a public inquiry into his killing will not go ahead. Sean Brown (61) was abducted by the LVF as he locked the gates at Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA Club in May 1997.
The father-of-six was bundled into the boot of his car, taken to Randalstown, Co Antrim, and shot dead. No one has ever been convicted of his murder.
Earlier this year, the coroner Mr Justice Kinney wrote to then NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, asking him to establish a public inquiry and setting a four-week deadline for taking a decision.
Mr Brown's widow Bridie Brown was then granted leave to seek a judicial review against the Secretary of State for not taking a decision on the request made by the coroner.
The request for a public inquiry has been backed by the Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, who said during a Policing Board meeting in March that the PSNI would co-operate with it.
However, in a statement released on behalf of the Brown family by KRW Law, a spokesperson confirmed Secretary of State Hilary Benn has refused the direction of a High Court Judge and will not convene a public inquiry.
“We are devastated that Hilary Benn MP has acted in defiance of the judiciary and has ignored the explicit direction of a High Court Judge to convene a public inquiry,” the statement said.
“The state is terrified that their carefully curated official history of the conflict is now being contradicted by judicially endorsed legal facts, hence their attempts to deny victims of access to the courts and access to justice. Today's devastating decision is merely an event in a long and shameful chronology, which must be an eternal embarrassment to the state.
“It is not the end of our journey; we are not going away. This is merely a decision which will be challenged, and we will now look forward with renewed enthusiasm and vigour to our judicial review which was already listed for hearing on Thursday 26th and Monday.”
Mrs Brown previously alleged that a lack of response from Mr Heaton-Harris breached the state's duty to provide an effective investigation into her husband's death under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The family added: “Today's announcement has a retraumatising effect on a family but most specifically an 87-year-old widow, already coming to the terms with the facts that were permitted to emanate from the inquest process.”
Finucane inquiry long overdue says Sir Declan Morgan, Head of ICRIR
Connla Young, Security Correspondent, Irish News, September 14th, 2024
THE chief of a controversial legacy body has welcomed a public inquiry into the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane.
Former lord chief justice Sir Declan Morgan, who is chief commissioner with the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), has welcomed confirmation from the British government that an independent public inquiry will go ahead after years of campaigning by the Finucane family.
Mr Finucane (39) was shot dead in front of his wife and three children by the UDA/UFF at his family home in north Belfast in February 1989.
In 2012, former Prime Minister David Cameron apologised after a report by Sir Desmond de Silva found there was collusion in the case. Several state agents are known to have been involved in the brutal murder.
The ICRIR was set up under the Conservative Party’s Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, which ended all inquests and civil cases, as well as introducing conditional immunity.
It has faced strong opposition with many victims and relatives who believe it to be part of British government attempts to protect state participants from accountability.
Several human rights and campaign groups called for the body to be “scrapped” earlier this week.
Figures published by the commission last Sunday indicated “there have been eight requests for investigation now at the information recovery stage”.
It also said there had been 85 enquiries from victims since it became operational in May.
Questions about the figures provided by the ICRIR have been raised.
While the Labour government has vowed to repeal and replace the legacy act, it has said the ICRIR will be retained.
Announcing the inquiry this week, Secretary of State Hillary Benn said that as part of his “decision making process” he considered whether to refer Mr Finucane’s case to the ICRIR. He added that he has “every confidence in its ability, under the leadership of Sir Declan Morgan, to find answers for survivors”.
In a statement the ICRIR said Sir Declan “welcomes the certainty that this brings to the Finucane family.
“It is long overdue,” the statement added. “Our focus is on the victims, survivors and families who have come to the independent commission looking for answers.
“Our task is to deliver for them and to recover meaningful and useful information.”
The statement said that until August 31 the “independent commission has registered 85 requests from individuals which are currently being dealt with by the case support team and of those 85 requests eight have now been accepted for investigation and are in the information recovery stage”.
Dublin won’t be found wanting in truth search says Harris -
but Little-Pengelly says its Legacy mechanisms ‘not good enough’
Jonathan McCambridge, Irish News, September 14th, 2024
THE Irish government “won’t be found wanting” in helping to provide answers for families bereaved in the Troubles, Simon Harris has insisted.
The taoiseach was speaking following a meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council at Dublin Castle and days after the British government announced a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane.
But Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has said the British government has a responsibility to explain why legacy mechanisms set up to investigate other Troubles deaths are “not good enough” for the Finucane family.
Mr Harris said that every family bereaved in the Troubles deserves answers and truth. He said he believed the new Labour government is taking the right approach to outstanding cases. He added: “We do now have a government in London that has committed to taking a new look, a fresh look to legacy.
“The UK government has a responsibility to explain to those families why the system they have set out is fit for purpose or good enough to investigate the death of their loved one but not good enough for the Finucane family
“As co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, we are very eager to positively engage with that process.
“Of course there will be truth, reconciliation, answers and justice required on both sides of the border and the Irish government won’t be found wanting either in relation to doing everything that we possibly, humanly can to help provide those answers.”
Ms Little-Pengelly said more than 1,000 families in Northern Ireland have never had justice for Troubles killings.
She said: “The UK government cannot escape the reality that to say to those families that this is a system which is fit for purpose for you but not for this particular case does create inequality, it does create that sense there is a hierarchy of victims, that there is a two-tier approach to this issue.
“That has caused hurt and pain, we have heard from some of those families over the last number of days.
“The UK government has a responsibility to explain to those families why the system they have set out is fit for purpose or good enough to investigate the death of their loved one but not good enough for the Finucane family.
“All families deserve truth and justice, that includes the Finucane family, but everyone should get the equal and same chance to get that truth and justice for the murder of their loved one.”
First Minister Michelle O’Neill said it was important not to pit the families of Troubles victims against one another.
She said: “Anybody that lost a loved one in the conflict deserves to have truth and justice, anyone that has lost a loved one deserves to have access to that truth and justice.
“We need to find ways to ensure that is the case.
“I welcome the fact that Labour have rubbished in their very early days the fundamentally flawed legislation which the Tories have brought forward.”
She added: “I think that this needs to be got right once and for all.
“We are 26 years past the Good Friday Agreement, today’s young people are being burdened with yesterday and we need to find a way to once and for all sensitively deal with the past in a way that allows families to get access to what it is that they need.”
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said an agreed approach to deal with legacy needed to be found.
Taoiseach Simon Harris
He said: “We have been too long at legacy, there has been too much stop-start.
“What we need to do now collectively and we have committed to work with the British government to meet the victims’ groups, to hear what they have to say.
“But it can’t be postponed for another couple of years until we get a framework in place.”
