By Sean O' Driscoll

U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland Mitchell Reiss has said that the British government’s spying organization, MI5, have told him that they are prepared to hand over all their documents on the controversial killing of human rights attorney Pat Finucane.

The announcement could be a huge boost for the Finucane family, who have battled since 1989 for British government cooperation.

Speaking at a congressional hearing on Northern Ireland  last week, Reiss said that he had been speaking with the head of MI5 and he had been assured that the organization would hand over all relevant documents to an upcoming tribunal investigation the killing.

The Finucane family and campaigners have long argued that the British government targeted Finucane for assassination because he had successfully defended suspected IRA members on trial.

In a secretly taped conversation between a BBC journalist and a Finucane’s killer, the killer revealed that there had been police collusion in the killing.

Reiss said that the Director General of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Butler, personally assured him that all relevant MI5 information would be passed on for the upcoming tribunal.

He asked her is he could tell the committee about her decision and she said that he could. However, she expressed some concern that the identity of agents or sources should not be compromised.

Reiss also strongly backed Sinn Fein U.S. representative Rita O’Hare in her travel visa dispute with the government.

Reiss said he has already told government agencies that the visa denial should be a “once off” and was “bad policy” is it was done for political reasons.

He praised O’Hare’s work in the U.S. and said he hoped that she would be able to continue doing her job.

Reiss made his comments before the International Relations Committee, which sat last week to hear an update on the Northern Ireland peace process.

His statements followed a question by New York Congressman Eliot Engel, who said that denying O’Hare a visa made no sense and that he wanted to register his “extreme displeasure” at the decision.

Two weeks ago, it emerged that O’Hare was temporarily denied a visa after she applied to travel to Florida to visit businessman Bill Flynn, who has been heavily involved in the peace process.

Reiss said that there were restraints on his ability to answer a question about an individual visa decision, but he said it was “bad policy” to deny Ms O’Hare a visa for policy reasons.

He said he was already expressed his concern to government agencies and he hoped it would not become a precedent.

He also warned that some Unionists could get involved in “provocative behaviour” if the IRA makes a statement announcing that it will disband later this year.

He said that he was concerned that any such behaviour could worsen the political situation and drive the Republican community back towards the IRA.

Asked by Florida Congressman Robert Wexler, about hardline statements being made by Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley, Reiss said that he had heard very encouraging words from Paisley when he was not before the “cameras and microphones” of the media.

Wexler said he was concerned about quotes in the Washington Times newspaper from a hardline Protestant politician who said it would be generations before a settlement could be reached.

Reiss said these were Paisley’s words and that they were said in front of TV cameras outside the British prime minister’s residence. He said that Paisley seemed much more accommodating and ready to negotiate when speaking in private.

Reiss also said that the sisters of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney had told him that they were threatened and told they would be burned out of their homes.

Reiss made his comments after New York Congressman Peter King, said that the IRA did not sanction the murder but its members may have been involved in a cover-up afterwards.

McCartney’s killing last January led to huge protests against the IRA after it emerged that some of its members had murdered McCartney, a Republican supporter, and that some of its members had been involved in covering up the evidence.

Congressman King, a close ally of Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, added that the killing was a pub dispute that could have happened in any city in America. He also welcomed signs that the IRA is about to disband but expressed concern about possible Unionist provocation if such a statement was released.