Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 15 October (HL1391), what have been the costs to date of the Cory report, the inquiry headed by Sir Desmond de Silva into the death of Patrick Finucane, the Stevens Inquiries and the Robert Hamill Inquiry.

As mentioned in my previous Written Answer, the Government takes reasonable steps to control the costs of inquiries, including capping legal costs as appropriate.

The Government asked Judge Peter Cory to re-investigate the death of Patrick Finucane. This was not a public inquiry but led to public inquiries into the deaths of Rosemary Nelson, Billy Wright, Robert Hamill and Patrick Finucane.

The Robert Hamill Inquiry is yet to publish its Report and therefore its final costs are not yet available. The Government is in the process of setting up the Patrick Finucane Inquiry and has considered the likely costs and impact on the public finances. The Government’s expectation is that the inquiry will avoid unnecessary costs given the work done in all the previous reviews and investigations and the large amount of information and material that is already in the public domain.

Sir Desmond de Silva was appointed to conduct an independent review into the death of Patrick Finucane, but like Cory, this was not a public inquiry. Sir John Stevens’ investigation was commissioned and funded by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (now PSNI).