Durkan accuses UK govt of double standards

The British government has been accused of double standards today for investigating the possibility of a truth commission while at the same time covering up security force collusion with loyalists.

As Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy began his visit to South Africa today, SDLP leader Mark Durkan urged key figures to press him to hold a public inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

Mr Durkan, who has written to leading members of the African National Congress, said: “Paul Murphy has gone to South Africa to look at truth processes.

“Yet at the very same time, the British government is bending over backwards to try to cover up the truth about collusion in the North and ride roughshod over a clear commitment to a public inquiry given to the Finucane family.”

Last month, retired Canadian judge Peter Cory recommended a public inquiry into Mr Finucane’s murder.

Three other proposed public inquiries – into the controversial murders of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson, loyalist leader Billy Wright and Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill – will go ahead but the Secretary of State has delayed an inquiry into the Finucane case until the trial of a loyalist charged in connection with the killing.

Mr Durkan described the delay as unacceptable: “For a truth process to be credible, it has to put the rights and the interests of victims at its heart.

“How can the British government hope that their process will have any credibility when – at the same time – they treat the family of a victim so disgracefully?”

He added: “The UN, the Irish Government, the American government are all agreed. There should be an inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane now.

“Paul Murphy can run around the world, but he cannot escape from the truth. No matter where he goes, the SDLP is determined that he will be reminded of his duty to ensure that the government honours its commitments and calls a Finucane inquiry now.”

Last Thursday Mr Murphy announced the start of a consultation process aimed at drawing a line under the Troubles.

He said he would be consulting victims’ families, politicians and academics and said the Government was coming to the process with an open mind.

During his visit to South Africa, he will meet former South African president FW de Klerk and leading African National Congress official Cyril Ramaphosa.

He will spend two days in Cape Town before flying to Johannesburg.

He is there to ask the creators of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation process how they achieved agreement for its operation.

Mr Murphy is looking at aspects of the South African process to consider how they could be adapted to Northern Ireland.