Debate contribution: Clonoe Inquest Findings

Debate contribution by Mrs Linda Dillon on 10 February 2025.

MLA

Mrs Linda Dillon

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

10 February 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Matter of the Day

Heading

Clonoe Inquest Findings

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4790197

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Last Thursday, at the High Court in Belfast, the coroner, Mr Justice Michael Humphreys, made a ruling finding that, in each of the killings of the four young men in Clonoe chapel car park on 16 February 1992, the use of lethal force by SAS soldiers was unjustified. In simple terms, that means that their actions constituted the murder of Irish citizens by the British state.

"Shoot to kill" was a policy decision taken in Westminster at the highest echelons of the British Government. In response to the hypocrisy of some on these Benches and those who sit in other Parliaments who attempt to convince us that the law does not apply to the very people who are supposed to uphold it, let me be clear: the law applies to us all. The irony of some of the commentary that Peter, Barry, Sean and Patrick were not held accountable for their actions on the night in question is not lost on any of us either. The fact is that there was an opportunity to arrest them and bring them before the courts to face due process under the rule of law, but, as we all know now, all four were shot. Two were shot while they were running away and then executed while they were incapacitated on the ground. The evidence shows that Peter was shot while he was on his knees with his arms in the air. That is not defence; it is execution. Some have also referred to the fact that the inquest came 33 years after the killings, but what they have failed to acknowledge is that, had it not been for the courageous and difficult fight by the families, there would have been no inquest at all. The families of those four young men have campaigned at a huge personal cost that none of us could ever begin to understand to reveal the truth and debunk the false accusations spread by state agencies. There was no gun battle. Five hundred rounds were fired by the SAS. They shot the men in the back and whilst they were on the ground. They shot two of them in the face. Those are the details that the families have had to endure. They deserved that ruling. They deserve the truth. They will decide with their legal teams whether they want to pursue justice for the murder of their father, sons, brothers and uncles. We on these Benches must support all families — when I say "all", I mean all — to have access to truth and justice. The British Government must proceed to fully repeal and replace the Legacy Act. That includes the full reinstatement of all inquests. There are so many other families who have never had access to a human rights-compliant inquest, which is the very minimum standard in a civilised and democratic society. These findings lay bare the rationale behind the British Government's determination to subsume all inquests within the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR). The British Secretary of State would decide what findings or information would be released to families: I think that we know what they would get. This ruling will strengthen the resolve of all those families to have their truth.

541 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:55 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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