Parliament
13 mentions of the inquiry in Parliament: debates, written questions and statements, oral questions and early day motions, from Hansard.
Robert Hamill Inquiry Update
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn) has today made the following statement:I wish to inform the House that the report of the Robert Hamill Inquiry, originally chaired by Sir Edwin Jowitt and now by Sir John Evans, will be published shortly after the summer recess, subject to Parliamentary timetabling.As I set out in my statement of 10 December 2025, the original Inquiry Chair, Sir Edwin Jowitt, advised the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, th...
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn) has today made the following statement:
I wish to inform the House that the report of the Robert Hamill Inquiry, originally chaired by Sir Edwin Jowitt and now by Sir John Evans, will be published shortly after the summer recess, subject to Parliamentary timetabling.
As I set out in my statement of 10 December 2025, the original Inquiry Chair, Sir Edwin Jowitt, advised the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP, on 25 February 2011, that the Inquiry Panel had fulfilled its Terms of Reference. However, following announcement by the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland in December 2010 of criminal charges against three individuals for perverting the course of justice, it was agreed that the Inquiry Report would not be submitted to the Secretary of State or published until the conclusion of these legal proceedings.
Following the conclusion of criminal proceedings in June 2024, a new Chair, Sir John Evans, was appointed on 7 October 2024 due to Sir Edwin unfortunately being unable to continue in the role. Since then, steps have been taken to enable the publication of the report and Sir John has now confirmed that the report is ready to be published.
As the person responsible for the publication of the Inquiry’s report, I have a duty, as a public authority under the Human Rights Act, to act in a way that is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
On 28 February 2011, the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP set out that a checking process had been undertaken to meet obligations in relation to Article 2 of the ECHR and national security. Whilst I have not yet seen the Report, given the significant passage of time since the last checking process was concluded, I have decided to make arrangements for a new one. I can confirm that this has now been completed and I have received advice that there is nothing in the report which, if published, could breach Article 2 of the ECHR by putting the lives or safety of individuals at risk, or would put national security at risk. I am therefore satisfied that the report can be published in full.
Given the time needed for the panel to finalise the text and to print the report, it will not be feasible to publish the report before the summer recess. My officials have therefore requested that the Inquiry team retain custody of the report over the recess.
As with the publication of the Bloody Sunday, Billy Wright and Rosemary Nelson Inquiry reports, I intend to consider giving advance sight to those who were designated as Core Participants by the Inquiry along with their legal representatives.
Read full answer →Robert Hamill Inquiry Update
I wish to inform the House that the report of the Robert Hamill Inquiry, originally chaired by Sir Edwin Jowitt and now by Sir John Evans, will be published shortly after the summer recess, subject to Parliamentary timetabling.As I set out in my statement of 10 December 2025, the original Inquiry Chair, Sir Edwin Jowitt, advised the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP, on 25 February 2011, that the Inquiry Panel had fulfilled its Terms of Reference. Howev...
I wish to inform the House that the report of the Robert Hamill Inquiry, originally chaired by Sir Edwin Jowitt and now by Sir John Evans, will be published shortly after the summer recess, subject to Parliamentary timetabling.
As I set out in my statement of 10 December 2025, the original Inquiry Chair, Sir Edwin Jowitt, advised the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP, on 25 February 2011, that the Inquiry Panel had fulfilled its Terms of Reference. However, following announcement by the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland in December 2010 of criminal charges against three individuals for perverting the course of justice, it was agreed that the Inquiry Report would not be submitted to the Secretary of State or published until the conclusion of these legal proceedings.
Following the conclusion of criminal proceedings in June 2024, a new Chair, Sir John Evans, was appointed on 7 October 2024 due to Sir Edwin unfortunately being unable to continue in the role. Since then, steps have been taken to enable the publication of the report and Sir John has now confirmed that the report is ready to be published.
As the person responsible for the publication of the Inquiry’s report, I have a duty, as a public authority under the Human Rights Act, to act in a way that is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
On 28 February 2011, the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP set out that a checking process had been undertaken to meet obligations in relation to Article 2 of the ECHR and national security. Whilst I have not yet seen the Report, given the significant passage of time since the last checking process was concluded, I have decided to make arrangements for a new one. I can confirm that this has now been completed and I have received advice that there is nothing in the report which, if published, could breach Article 2 of the ECHR by putting the lives or safety of individuals at risk, or would put national security at risk. I am therefore satisfied that the report can be published in full.
Given the time needed for the panel to finalise the text and to print the report, it will not be feasible to publish the report before the summer recess. My officials have therefore requested that the Inquiry team retain custody of the report over the recess.
As with the publication of the Bloody Sunday, Billy Wright and Rosemary Nelson Inquiry reports, I intend to consider giving advance sight to those who were designated as Core Participants by the Inquiry along with their legal representatives.
Read full answer →Bloody Sunday Tribunal of Inquiry: Costs
To ask His Majesty's Government what has been the cost to date of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, each of the inquiries required after Judge Corey's report, the de Silva Finucane inquiry, the budgeted ICRIR legacy inquiries, and the expected costs of a Finucane judicial inquiry.
The total cost of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry from 1998, when it was established, to the end of May 2010 when it concluded, was £191.2 million.
Judge Corey recommended that the Government hold public inquiries into the deaths of Rosemary Nelson, Billy Wright, Robert Hamill and Patrick Finucane. The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry and the Billy Wright Inquiry cost £46.46 million and £30.5 million respectively. As the Robert Hamill Inquiry Report is still to be published, final costs are not yet available.
Funding of £250m was agreed with HMT in 2023 to cover the implementation of all aspects of the Legacy Act 2023. The lion's share of this funding was for the establishment and operation of the ICRIR (£230m), with the remainder ring fenced for memorialisation and official history measures that seek to promote wider societal healing/reconciliation. This funding derived from the £150 million allocated to implement the Stormont House Agreement and £100 million allocated through the New Deal, New Approach agreement.
As outlined in the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland’s Oral Statement of 11 September 2024, the Government has considered the likely costs of the inquiry into the death of Patrick Finucane and its impact on the public finances. It is the Government’s expectation that the inquiry will - while doing everything that is required to discharge the State’s human rights obligations - avoid unnecessary costs given all the previous reviews and investigations and the large amount of information and material that is already in the public domain.
The Government takes reasonable steps to control the costs of inquiries, including capping legal costs as appropriate.
Read full answer →Terrorism
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much her Department has spent in each of the last five years on investigations into past terrorist incidents in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Office does not conduct investigations into terrorist incidents. Investigations are a matter for the independent policing authorities.
The Northern Ireland Office has funded a number of inquiries that were established by the previous government into terrorist incidents in Northern Ireland. The Billy Wright Inquiry closed in September 2010 and cost £30.5 million. The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry closed in May 2011 and cost £46.5 million. Costs for these inquiries within the period requested are set out below.
In 2011, the Northern Ireland Office set up a review into the murder of Patrick Finucane, which reported in 2012 at a cost of £1.1m.
<tbody>
Rosemary Nelson Inquiry (£) (end May 11)
Billy Wright Inquiry
(£) (end Aug 10)
09/10
5,081,501
4,817,835
10/11
1,924,195
692,373
11/12
114,725
-
</tbody>
Read full answer →CORY REPORT
That this House notes that the bereaved families of Pat Finucane, Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Billy Wright have been contacted by Justice Peter Cory and informed that he has recommended a public inquiry into each of their four deaths; recalls that following the Weston Park Agreement in 2001, Judge Cory was appointed jointly by British and Irish governments to examine allegations of collusion in six deaths and to assess whether there was sufficient evidence in each case to merit a publi...
ROSEMARY NELSON INQUIRY
That this House notes that Thursday 15th March marks the second anniversary of the death of human rights lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, killed as a result of a bomb explosion beneath her car in Lurgan, County Armagh; notes that to date nobody has been brought to justice for her murder; notes that in the months before her death, Ms Nelson's professional work representing the interests of the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, the family of murder victim Robert Hamill, the miscarriage of justice vic...
ROSEMARY NELSON
That this House regrets that one year since the murder of Northern Ireland human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson, her murderers have not been brought to justice; and joins Amnesty International and other human rights organisations in calling for an independent judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding her murder.
PATRICK FINUCANE AND ROSEMARY NELSON: PROPOSED INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL JUDICIAL INQUIRY
That this House congratulates the Northern Ireland Law Society on the decision of its special annual general meeting to add its authority and voice to calls for an independent investigation into the circumstances and allegations of collusion arising from the murders of solicitors Patrick Finucane in 1989 and of Rosemary Nelson in 1999; notes that similar motions have already been adopted by the Bar Council of Northern Ireland and by Law Societies in England and Wales and in the Republic of Ir...
DRUMCREE ORANGE ORDER
That this House is deeply concerned that since the re-routing of the Drumcree Orange Order parade in July 1998, the residents of the Garvaghy Road area of Portadown have seen their solicitor, Rosemary Nelson murdered and been subjected to a virtually continuous series of legal and illegal pro-Orange Order protests in which one police officer has been murdered by Loyalists, local residents have been injured or forced to leave their homes and Catholic businesses have been destroyed by arsonists...
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY INTO THE MURDER OF ROSEMARY NELSON
That this House, following the Report of the Independent Commission for Police Complaints allegations of RUC harassment of the late Mrs Rosemary Nelson, a solicitor noted for her work for human rights, notes that the IPC found RUC officers were 'hostile, evasive and disinterested' in connection with the enquiry and supports her husband Paul's comments that 'if the ICPC had no confidence in the ability of the RUC to investigate death threats against Rosemary how can my family be expected to ha...
DEATH OF ROSEMARY NELSON
That this House is appalled at the murder of Rosemary Nelson by a car bomb; recognises her great work for human rights and justice; recalls her enormous support for the residents of Garvaghy Road; and hopes that peace and justice come to Ireland to prevent further loss of life.
MURDER OF ROSEMARY NELSON
That this House extends its deepest condolences to the family of human rights solicitor Rosemary Nelson and expresses its utter abhorrence at her barbaric murder on 15th March; notes that Rosemary Nelson had complained that RUC officers had made death threats against her, stating to the International Operations and Human Rights Sub-committee of the United States House International Relations Committee hearing on Human Rights in Northern Ireland on 29th September 1998 that 'my clients have rep...