Policing and justice debate: The outgoing SDLP chairman, Mr Alex Attwood, spoke out strongly against the failure of the British government so far to respond to the recommendations by Judge Peter Cory to hold inquiries into murders in which loyalist collusion is suspected.
Mr Attwood, speaking in the policing and justice debate, said that behind the refusal to publish Judge Cory's reports is the "ongoing effort to frustrate inquiries".
The judge, a former member of the Canadian Supreme Court, was called in by the British and Irish governments after talks at Weston Park in the summer of 2001. He investigated the killings of Mr Pat Finucane, Ms Rosemary Nelson, Mr Robert Hamill and the former LVF leader Billy Wright. He also reported on killings in the Republic of two senior RUC officers Breen and Buchanan and on the deaths of Lord and Lady Gibson.
The Government has already published these two Cory reports and followed the judge's recommendation. However, publication of the four reports given to the British government is still awaited, despite the growing clamour for Mr Tony Blair to respond.
Mr Attwood said: "Downing Street will claim that maybe, just maybe, a commission might find a better alternative to the Cory inquiries. In reality, the full truth is buried deeper. The families, with a dignity and decency others could follow, should not be subjected to this. Why is this happening. The failure to convene the Cory inquiries would send out a bigger message - that, whatever mechanisms to address the past may be, the perpetrators will be protected, off-limits, beyond reach. That is what those in state agencies, the IRA, the UDA and the others guilty of human rights abuses want to hear.
"It is one of those moments when the needs of elements in the state and of the paramilitaries converge. It is a horrendous vista which serves neither the truth nor the needs of victims."
Mr Attwood then turned to a proposal by the chairman of the Policing Board, Prof Desmond Rea, to establish a truth commission.
Mr Attwood, also a Policing Board member, said: "His was a minor contribution, but one which caused deep hurt among people whose experience Desmond Rea cannot begin to grasp. At a critical moment, when there are those in government who are determined to evade Cory, these comments contributed to the notion that Cory is negotiable."
He added that Judge Cory's recommendations were not bargaining chips. "The convening of inquiries now is a core component of the new beginning to policing. Commitments publicly and solemnly entered into must be honoured.
"You mess with these commitments, you mess with that part of our politics that is changing most and working best - the new beginning to policing. They are not separate from political developments - they are integral to developments. They cannot be undone," he said.
Mr Eunan Magee, Mrs Rosemary Nelson's brother, addressed the conference, and outlined the circumstances of his sister's murder in March 1999.
"Rosie was never given any security advice as to her own personal security. On the eve of her murder there was an unusual and unprecedented level of security activity by way of helicopter activity and vehicular checkpoints." He said the then chief constable of the RUC, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, called in the chief of the Kent police, Mr David Phillips, to investigate.
"Mr Phillips discontinued his investigation without ever having spoken to any member of Rosie's family. We were never given an explanation for his departure." He cited what he believed to be a list of shortcomings in the investigation into the killing and said his family had little confidence that charges would be brought against suspects in the case.