The SDLP Assembly member for Upper Bann, Ms Brid Rogers, has expressed grave concern at the response given by the RUC Chief Constable to allegations that he said some lawyers in Northern Ireland were "working for the paramilitaries".
Sir Ronnie Flanagan has denied making the comments to UN special rapporteur Dr Param Cumaraswamy at a meeting in RUC headquarters in 1997. The claim was contained in last night's Panorama programme Careless Talk, which examined allegations of collusion between the British army, the RUC and loyalist paramilitaries.
There were "contradictory elements" in the replies given by the Chief Constable to a number of questions, Ms Rogers said. There was now an overwhelming case for an inquiry into the murders of solicitors Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson, she said.
Sinn Fein spokeswoman on policing and justice, Ms Bairbre de Brun, said the RUC was "desperately trying to rewrite their own recent history and involvement in serious infringement of human rights."