Blair to face more pressure over Cory report

The Government was today due to face fresh nationalist demands to pressure Tony Blair to publish reports into four controversial killings in Northern Ireland.

Nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan and colleagues were expected to urge Foreign Minister Brian Bowen to lean on the British government to release reports compiled by retired Canadian judge Peter Cory into four controversial murders during the troubles.

The Government has released two reports handed to them last year by Judge Cory on controversial killings affecting their jurisdiction.

They ordered an enquiry into one of the cases – the double murder by the IRA of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan in County Armagh in March 1989 after attending a meeting with Irish police across the border.

The SDLP and Sinn Féin as well as human rights organisations have been seriously critical of the British government for failing to produce their full report from Judge Cory.

These deal with:

:: The shooting of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in his North Belfast home in February 1989 by the loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters amid allegations of security force collusion in his death.

:: Allegations that members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary failed to intervene when a loyalist mob kicked and stamped on Catholic father-of-two Robert Hamill in Portadown town centre in April 1987.

:: The suspicious circumstances surrounding the killing of Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright by the Irish National Liberation Army in a prison van in the high security Maze Jail in December 1997.

:: The murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson who was blown up by a bomb placed under her car near her Lurgan home in March 1999 amid allegations of RUC threats made to her through her clients.

Northern Ireland Secretary, Paul Murphy, has in recent weeks told MPs that the four reports will only be published once the British government is satisfied that all security and legal implications have been considered.

The family of Pat Finucane have been given permission for a judicial review of the British government’s decision to withhold the reports by the Belfast High Court.

Earlier this month, Judge Cory contacted the Finucane, Hamill, Wright and Nelson families to inform them that he had recommended enquiries in each case.

An SDLP spokesman said: “We intend to raise with Mr Bowen how serious it is that these reports have not been released and the need to ensure the British honour their commitment to act on Judge Cory’s findings.

“That commitment was made at the Weston Park talks in 2001.”

Mr Durkan was also expected to raise concerns about the forthcoming review of the Good Friday Agreement which is due to begin on February 3 under the joint chairmanship of British and Irish ministers.

Last week, the SDLP said it was concerned that implementation of vital sections of the Agreement would be put on hold by the British government.

They also warned both the Irish and British governments that they should not indulge the Reverend Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists’ desire to renegotiate the 1998 Agreement.

Mr Paisley and the DUP were due to meet the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the Irish Embassy in London later this week, probably Thursday.