Belfast Telegraph

DAD WAS KILLED TO SILENCE HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERS SON OF PAT FINUCANE IN TRIBUTE

- BY MICHAEL McHUGH

BELFAST solicitor Pat Finucane was murdered to silence other human rights lawyers, his son has said.

This week marks 30 years since Mr Finucane was shot 14 times by loyalists in collusion with security forces while enjoying Sunday lunch at home with his family. He was 39.

Mr Finucane’s son John was a schoolboy when his father died in front of him.

Speaking yesterday, he recalled: “Our lives changed forever.”

His father’s best years profession­ally were ahead of him, his son said.

He added: “It was a deliberate decision to kill him, to silence other lawyers and prevent them from doing that type of work.

“What we see now is a generation coming through with lawyers, people wanting their human rights.

“I think that is very much a legacy of Pat Finucane and what he stands for and represents. That gives me enormous pride. While they did silence him, they could not have made a bigger mess of it if they tried.

“The name reverberat­es around the world and an enormous amount of credit for that is due to my mother.”

Former Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledg­ed the “shocking” level of state collusion in the 1989 UDA killing after receiving a report on the evidence.

Sir Desmond de Silva’s review confirmed that agents of the state were involved and it should have been prevented — but ruled out an “overarchin­g state conspiracy”.

The Finucane family have engaged in years of litigation over what they say is the Government’s failure to grant an independen­t public inquiry and they strongly opposed the decision to order the de Silva review.

A Supreme Court judgment on legal action connected to the case is pending.

Mr Finucane was from working-class west Belfast and took advantage of the opportunit­ies afforded by university education to become a lawyer during the Troubles.

As a defence solicitor, he represente­d clients who included convicted members of the IRA and families involved in shootto-kill allegation­s against the RUC.

During the prison hunger strikes of the 1980s he represente­d Bobby Sands.

His son said he represente­d all sides, while others at a special event in Belfast said he spoke up for the voiceless.

Mr Finucane recalled the early years of his family’s campaign for justice.

“We were attacked very deliberate­ly and cruelly as nothing more than republican propagan- dists, that we were an IRA man’s children who did not deserve truth and justice,” he said.

He praised his mother Geraldine’s hard work, strength and resilience during a speech marking the anniversar­y of his father’s death.

Mr Finucane’s daughter Katherine said that he would be proud of his family’s fight for justice.

She said losing her father in such a brutal way added another dimension to their grief.

That hurt was not resolved because the search for the truth continued, she added, and the consequenc­es were many.

“We did not have him for long in our lives and although we have our memories we were robbed of so many more,” she said.

“We keep my dad alive because we carry him in us.

“We not only fight for justice for him, but for a future fit for our children and one that he would be proud of.”

She said the past was being inherited by her children, by another generation seeking answers about what happened.

“It was not only my brothers and me who had our father stolen from them, but our children, too,” she added.

Ms Finucane told the audience her father was a keen footballer who did not like to lose, a man who was full of laughter.

He inspired her to learn French as he asked directions during family holidays in Europe.

She said he would have had great fun with her children had he lived.

He was an “advocate” for his community; her brothers as lawyers continued that, while she contribute­d through her work on mental health.

“We are of him and he has inspired us,” she concluded.

Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said Mr Finucane’s murder “haunted” the corridors of power to this day.

He said the Finucane family were using their influence to help everybody else to raise their voices for those who had none.

❝ A deliberate decision to kill him, to silence other lawyers and prevent them doing that type of work

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 ?? KEVIN SCOTT/KELVIN BOYES ?? Clockwise from main: Gerry Adams with the family of Pat Finucane; speaker John Finucane; Gerry Kelly and Sean (Spike) Murray in the audience, Katherine Finucane at the event
KEVIN SCOTT/KELVIN BOYES Clockwise from main: Gerry Adams with the family of Pat Finucane; speaker John Finucane; Gerry Kelly and Sean (Spike) Murray in the audience, Katherine Finucane at the event
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