Relatives of murdered solicitors call for inquiry

Relatives of murdered solicitors Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson have rejected a commitment by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to appoint a judge shortly to investigate these cases and others in which allegations of Northern security force collusion have been made.

Mr Ahern told the Front Line human rights conference yesterday that a judge "of international standing" would be appointed by next April to review the six cases. Both the British and Irish governments would abide by the findings and recommendations, he said.

However, the families of both lawyers dismissed the offer of a judge as "a stalling device" and repeated their calls for a full judicial inquiry. Ms Geraldine Finucane said she felt the proposal was "totally unnecessary". She accused the British government of throwing obstacles in the family's path whenever new information became available about the murder of her husband 13 years ago.

"I am very worried that the pattern of the past is about to be repeated and yet another stalling device is to be brought into play. Why waste time and money introducing a judge if not for the ulterior motive of avoiding the issue?"

Ms Bernadette McQuillan, sister of Ms Nelson, told the conference the circumstances surrounding her murder would never be known without the establishment of a judicial inquiry. The delay in appointing a judge reinforced her family's suspicion that the proposal was designed to stall the truth coming out.

Mr Ahern had earlier said the two governments were still searching for a suitable judge to take on the task. He said the Government was still committed to the objective of a judicial inquiry. He said Mr Finucane and Ms Nelson were murdered because of the professional services they provided in protecting people before the court.

He described the murders of journalists Ms Veronica Guerin and Mr Martin O'Hagan as "direct attacks on the basic human rights of free speech and a free press".

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, also paid tribute to the work carried out by Mr Finucane, Ms Nelson and Mr O'Hagan. Their names, she said, were a reminder that attacks did not only happen in "far-off states" and that human-rights defenders could pay with their lives for their work for others. Mr Ahern said Irish people had a "very rounded" sense of the full range of human rights, derived from our historical experience of oppression and generations of economic injustice, including the Famine.

Following the attacks of September 11th, the need for governments and peoples to double their efforts to promote respect for human rights was clearer now than ever.