Pat Finucane
Irish human rights lawyer and murder victim (1949-1989)
Patrick Finucane (; 21 March 1949 – 12 February 1989) was a lawyer from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was known for challenging the British government in human rights cases on behalf of Irish Republican Army (IRA) hunger strikers 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 while eating at his Belfast home with his three children and his wife, who was wounded during the attack. In September 2004, a UDA member who was recruited as an informer by the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Branch pleaded guilty to his murder, serving three years in jail.
In 2001, after international pressure, the British government agreed to appoint a judge to review whether or not there was collusion with the British government in the murder; a public inquiry was promised 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.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Pat Finucane” is irish human rights lawyer and murder victim (1949-1989). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Finucane, Irish and human, not as a finished interpretation.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q891652. VIAF identifies the subject as 38605621. The Library of Congress control number is n94058903. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949, 1989, 2004 and 2001.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pat Finucane” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.