Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will publish his request to the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland for extra time to consider the ruling in the case of Geraldine Finucane v Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

I met with Mrs Finucane on 25 July to hear firsthand her views, during which I explained that I would likely be required to seek an extension to the timetable set by the Court. I then wrote to Mrs Finucane and the Court of Appeal setting out in detail the rationale for the extension request, most notably that, in light of the recent change in government, the requirement for cross-government consultation, the need for officials across government to provide new Ministers with a full briefing on the case, and the parliamentary summer recess period during August, it would not be possible to reach a government decision on a process for investigation of the relevant aspects of Patrick Finucane’s death, that would be compliant with Article 2 of the European Court of Human Rights, within the timescale set by the Court (ie. by 22 August 2024).

Mrs Finucane did not object to the Government’s request and the Court has granted the Government an extension to 27 September 2024 to respond to its judgement of 11 July 2024.

I want to ensure that the Government makes a decision on this case as soon as possible and that this decision takes account of the views of Mrs Finucane.

I will update the House on the Government’s position in due course.