The former Tanaiste and minister for foreign affairs, Mr Dick Spring, has called on the Government to raise with its British counterpart the UN's report on systematic intimidation by the RUC of lawyers representing republicans and loyalists.
Mr Spring, now Labour's spokesman on foreign affairs, said he supported the UN investigator's recommendation to reopen the murder case of the Belfast solicitor, Mr Pat Finucane, who was killed by the UDA in 1989.
According to the report, the outstanding questions surrounding the murder demonstrate the need for an independent judicial inquiry. Mr Spring described the report as extremely serious, suggesting that there had been widespread intimidation, hindrance and harassment of lawyers.
It was intolerable and unacceptable that lawyers should be treated in this way by the RUC while representing their clients. It was a fundamental principle of any democratic society that any person accused of wrongdoing had the right to be represented by independent legal counsel. "This is a cornerstone of any judicial system and it must be upheld and vigorously defended."
He said it was essential that the persistent allegation of "at best acquiescence and at worst collusion" by the security forces be fully investigated. The development of full confidence by all sides of the community in the security forces of Northern Ireland demanded nothing less.