State papers: Mowlam took Pat Finucane murder collusion claim 'very seriously'

Dr Mo Mowlam said she would “not hesitate to act if I concluded that the public interest and the interests of justice require me to act.”  File picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Northern Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlam, promised the Irish government that she took claims by a leading civil rights group that a secret British army unit assisted loyalist murder gangs with multiple killings including the murder of Belfast solicitor “very, very seriously.” 

Confidential State papers being released by the National Archives show Ms Mowlam vowed she was “not going to let it drop” after the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Liz O’Donnell, raised the issue of collusion by British armed forces in the murder of nationalists in Northern Ireland.