Dúirt Siad – After the De Silva report into the murder of Pat Finucane

“Yet another British government has engineered the suppression of the truth about the murder of my husband, Pat Finucane . . . The dirt has been swept under the carpet without any serious attempt to lift the lid on what really happened to Pat and so many others."

– Geraldine Finucane, Pat's wife

"This report is a sham, this report is a whitewash, this report is a confidence trick dressed up as independent scrutiny and given invisible clothes of reliability, but most of all – most hurtful and insulting of all – this report is not the truth.”

– Geraldine Finucane

“The de Silva review into the killing of Pat Finucane in February 1989 concludes that there was collusion by British state agencies. Everyone already knew this.  David Cameron today sought to use the review as a pretext for denying the family a public inquiry – a commitment that was made by the British Government at Weston Park in 2001. This is not acceptable to the family or to Sinn Féin and it should not be acceptable to the government here."

– Gerry Adams TD, Sinn Féin

"The information provided by Desmond de Silva is a damning indictment of British state collusion in the murder of citizens. It reveals some of the extent to which this existed. It does not diminish the need for a public inquiry. On the contrary, it makes such an inquiry more necessary than ever.”

– Gerry Adams TD

“The reality is that the Finucane family were an IRA family . . . Let's not fool ourselves about the godfather Finucane, who was killed. If there was connivance then let me say we talk, all of us who served through the heart of the Troubles of Northern Ireland, we served in a way where it was impossible to have secrets.”

– Lord Ken Maginnis, Ulster Unionist Party, a former major in the Ulster Defence Regiment, the largest regiment in the British Army

“While [the report] rejects any state conspiracy, he does find, quite frankly, shocking levels of state collusion. Most importantly, Sir Desmond says he is left in significant doubt as to whether Patrick Finucane would have been murdered by the Ulster Defence Association in February 1989 had it not been for the different strands of involvement by elements of the state. Collusion should never happen. So, on behalf of the Government – and the whole country – let me say again to the Finucane family, I am deeply sorry.”

– British Prime Minister David Cameron

“I am deeply sorry and, on behalf of the police service, I offer a complete, absolute and unconditional apology to Mr Finucane's wife, Geraldine. I know that the vast majority of colleagues, both past and present, will share in my profound sadness and disappointment at how the Finucane family were so badly and abjectly failed.”

– Matt Baggot, Chief Constable of the RUC's successor, the PSNI

“It is unacceptable and Amnesty, his family and the public should not settle for anything other than the full and independent investigation that this case, and Patrick Finucane's memory, warrants. The state has accepted that there was collusion in Patrick Finucane's killing. Those responsible must be held accountable.”

– Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International