The British Government is protecting its security forces by not allowing a fully-independent inquiry into the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.
Mr Ahern told Opposition leaders in the Dáil this afternoon that the situation was unsatisfactory.
"We are at total stalemate on the issue. I feel bad about it for a number of reasons, firstly, for the Finucane family," he said.
The Taoiseach said he regretted that the British Government hadn't honoured a deal reached at Weston Park talks in 2001 to open inquiries into several atrocities, including the Finucane killing.
He added: "They have offered a different type of inquiry. Not to put a tooth in it, because I have spent so many hours talking to different people, but the reason is they will not subject the military authorities to an open forum on this. That is the issue. It is not really about anything else. That is the difficulty."
Mr Finucane, 39, died in a hail of 14 bullets as he ate a meal with his family at his home in February 1989.
Ken Barrett, the loyalist gunman convicted of the killing, was freed in May under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, after serving three years in jail.
He is now believed to be living in a seaside town in the UK. Mr Ahern told the Dáil that the Government would continue to exert the maximum political pressure on the British Government over the issue.
He remarked that the Government has always been concerned by persistent reports of collusion between security forces and paramilitaries in the North.
"We have raised these issues with the British Government, continue to do so and will do so when the Minister for Foreign Affairs meets Secretary of State Hain on 26 June."
Earlier, Opposition leader Enda Kenny said: "The truth in this case must come out. This man was murdered and there was collusion between the British security forces and the loyalist death squad that carried out the assassination. It is a pain to the members of the Finucane family who have battled for justice for their husband and father."
The US House of Representatives recently passed a resolution calling on the British Government to immediately establish an independent public judicial inquiry into the murder of Mr Finucane.
The Finucane family is currently pressing for a Senate resolution mirroring the recent congressional motion and has written to every Senator to lobby for support.
Mr Ahern said the Government supported the family on that initiative.
Tentative proposals have also been brought before the European Parliament for a motion and various Irish and international groups continue to take an interest in the issue, Mr Ahern told TDs.