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The Law Society of Ireland has written to the British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron MP, today (20th December, 2012), to add its voice to those of the Finucane family, the Irish Government and many others in demanding a public inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor, Pat Finucane.

The brutal slaying of Pat Finucane in front of his wife and children, in the words of Sir Desmond de Silva, QC, in his report published last week, dates from “…an extremely dark and violent time in which a lawyer could so callously and tragically be murdered as a result of discharging his professional legal duties”.

As he finds elsewhere in his report: “…a series of positive actions by employees of the State actively furthered and facilitated this murder and that, in the aftermath…there was a relentless attempt to defeat the ends of justice”.

These findings are not new. The earlier reports of both retired Metropolitan Police Chief John Stevens and former Justice Peter Cory of the Supreme Court of Canada had made it perfectly clear that there was an utterly shocking level of State collusion in the murder and that, equally unacceptably, agents of the State also sought to frustrate the investigations of this heinous crime.

In the letter to the Prime Minister, the President of the Law Society, James McCourt, says: “I readily acknowledge your utter condemnation of what occurred and your apology for it to the Finucane family in your speech in the House of Commons last week. Nevertheless, in the view of the Law Society of Ireland, the investigation to date simply is not enough. A public inquiry is still required as was recommended by the Weston Park Agreement in 2001 and recommended also by Judge Cory.”

This is not the first time the Law Society of Ireland has demanded that a public inquiry be carried out in order to reveal everything that happened in this appalling case. As long ago as April 1999 – all of 13 years ago – the Society made just such a public call.

In concluding his letter to the Prime Minister, President of the Law Society, James McCourt, states: “On behalf of the solicitors’ profession in this jurisdiction I respectfully but insistently repeat that demand now. The full extent of the State’s collusion in this murder can only be exposed by such an inquiry.”

View the letter to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, MP.