The Ulster Unionist Party thanks Sir Desmond de Silva for his commitment to bring closure to the many investigations into the murder of Patrick Finucane, and hope the Finucanes will take comfort from the publication.
As Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II said on her visit to Dublin in May of last year: "With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all."
We note Sir Desmond acknowledges that there was no overarching state conspiracy in the murder of Pat Finucane.
The Ulster Unionist Party will be eternally grateful to the officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Ulster Defence Regiment, and all branches of the security forces for their dedication and sacrifice to hold the line against a terrorist threat of unparalleled and unprecedented scale and persistence.
Many hundreds of families who lost police officers and soldiers to illegality continue to suffer the same pain as the Finucanes, but without the support of Public Inquiries or as in this case, the biggest criminal investigation in British legal history, with a million pages of evidence made available to the de Silva review. We acknowledge the human cost of a conflict which we always wished to resolve politically. This was a possibility until terrorism took over.
Given the number of security forces personnel involved, the 24/7 threat, not only to their lives but those of their families, neighbours and anyone who happened to be in their vicinity, and given the length of the terror campaign against them, it was inevitable that decisions were made which on occasions appear differently with the benefit of historical hindsight.
Indeed, the IRA and republican movement often created the conditions which maximised the likelihood of such circumstances. This is part of the definition of the impact of terrorism.
The Report makes clear that there was an absence of an adequate legal framework or guidance for the intelligence services handling agents. Despite calls from the RUC and the Security Services it was many years before Cabinet Ministers realised the need for a legal framework and many further years before that was provided.
Mr De Silva also points out the context. His Report was looking at the actions of the State and its agents as well as loyalists, but he points out that PIRA was the single greatest source of violence during the period and an holistic account of the time would reveal the full calculating brutality of that terrorist group.
The Ulster Unionist Party welcomes the fact that Mr De Silva received the full co-operation of the Government and its Departments. We hope that this report will bring to a conclusion the requests for further enquiries into this and other high profile cases. We also acknowledge Sir Desmond’s caution that his report should not be used to reinforce the narrative of any particular group.
We acknowledge the loss and suffering of the Finucane family. We also acknowledge the loss and suffering of all families, and equally as importantly, the living victims.
The Ulster Unionist Party calls on the Secretary of State to consider urgently how to end this disjointed, piecemeal approach to dealing with the past, and convene talks to discuss an inclusive and comprehensive way forward.