Dad would be proud of our fight for justice, says Pat Finucane’s daughter

Pat Finucane would be proud of his family’s fight for justice, his daughter has said.

Katherine Finucane said losing her human rights lawyer father in such a brutal way – shot dead by loyalists in front of his family – added another dimension to their grief.

That hurt was not resolved because the search for the truth continued, she added, and the consequences were many.

“We did not have him for long in our lives and although we have our memories we were robbed of so many more,” she said.

“We keep my dad alive because we carry him in us. We not only fight for justice for him but for a future fit for our children and one that he would be proud of.”

She said the past was being inherited by her children, by another generation seeking answers about what happened.

“It was not only my brothers and me who had our father stolen from them but our children, too,” she added.

Ms Finucane told an audience in west Belfast her father was a keen footballer who did not like to lose, a man who was full of laughter.

He inspired her to learn French as he asked directions during family holidays in Europe.

She said he would have had great fun with her children had he lived.

He was an “advocate” for his community, her brothers as lawyers continued that, she too contributed through her work on mental health.

“We are of him and he has inspired us,” she concluded.