Widow of Pat Finucane on Public Inquiry: ‘I believe that my family deserve this after so many years’

Geraldine Finucane said it had been a ‘long journey’ to get to the point where ‘an independent public inquiry has finally become a reality’.

NI Secretary of State Hilary Benn publicly confirmed the move in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Human rights lawyer Pat Finucane was shot and killed in front his wife and three children on Sunday, February 12, 1989. Geraldine was also shot that day.

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 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.

She said she believed the inquiry can be a “watershed moment in the difficult subject of legacy in this part of our island”.

"If a public inquiry into 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.

“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.”

Geraldine Finucane said the family never believed her husband’s murder ‘was simply the work of gunmen who killed him’.

“We were not satisfied with private, limited reviews from which we were excluded. We could not and did not accept the assurances of previous British governments that they were anxious to set the record straight, because they were never prepared to do so in public. 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.

"The journey to this point is not one that my family and I have had to endure alone. Indeed, we would never have succeeded without the assistance and support and encouragement of so many people over the years. I want to record my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to each and every one of them. We would not be here today without them.”

Derry’s MP Colum Eastwood has repeatedly raised the killing of Mr Finucane in the House of Commons and called for a full public Inquiry.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the SDLP representative said: “I commend Geraldine Finucane and the Finucane family, including of course the hon. Member for Belfast North (John Finucane), on their tireless campaigning to get to this point, and I thank the Secretary of State for finally doing the right thing on behalf of the British Government in announcing this inquiry.”

Back in 2020 Derry City & Strabane District Council representatives also called for a full public inquiry into the murder after a motion was tabled by Sinn Féin’s Sandra Duffy condemning the previous refusal by the British government to order an inquiry.

Also among those to welcome the decision yesterday were An Taoiseach Simon Harris, the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou Donald, who said: “For 35 years, Mrs. Geraldine Finucane and her family have led a dignified and determined campaign for truth and justice, seeking a public inquiry into Pat’s murder, efforts Sinn Féin have strongly supported throughout this time.

“An Independent, statutory public inquiry is the only way to achieve the whole truth behind the murder of Pat Finucane."

Geraldine Finucane also praised Mr Finucane’s business partner and friend Peter Madden as ‘a source of unending strength and resilience’ to her family.