Pat Finucane

Patrick Finucane (/fɪˈnuːkən/; 21 March 1949 – 12 February 1989) was an Irish international human rights lawyer, most notable for his challenge of the British government in human rights cases on behalf of Irish Republican Army (IRA) hunger strikers such as Bobby Sands in the 1980s and his murder in 1989 by loyalist paramilitaries from the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), acting in collusion with agencies of the British government.

Finucane's killing was one of the most controversial during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He was shot 14 times as ate a meal at his Belfast home with his three children and his wife, who was wounded during the attack. In September 2004, Ken Barrett, an UDA member who was recruited as an informer by the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Branch, pleaded guilty to his murder; he only served 3 years in jail after being released early.

In 2001, after international pressure, at Weston Park, the British government agreed to appoint a judge that would review whether or not there was collusion with the British government in the murder, promising a public inquiry if collusion was found. However, even though the judge did find evidence of collusion, the British government reneged on the promise for a public inquiry. In October 2011, instead of a public inquiry, the government began a less wide-ranging review led by Sir Desmond de Silva. The results of this review, released in December 2012, acknowledged that the case entailed "a wilful and abject failure by successive Governments" and blame was laid on dead witnesses and now-defunct military organisations; the Finucane family decried the report as a "sham". In December 2012, British Prime Minister David Cameron apologised for the collusion. In 2024, the government of Northern Ireland announced that a public inquiry would finally be carried out.