Resource issues should not give the State "impunity" from ensuring the Police Ombudsman can fulfil a legal duty to investigate controversial Troubles killings, the High Court heard today.
Lawyers for the widow of one of three IRA men shot dead by the SAS claimed a systemic lack of funding for the watchdog amounted to a breach of her human rights.
Gerard Harte, his brother Martin, and Brian Mullan died in an ambush at Drumnakilly, Co Tyrone in 1988.
The number of shots fired sparked claims they were victims of a shoot-to-kill policy.
Roisin Harte was reportedly told in 2018 that a complaint relating to her husband's death had not been prioritised for investigation by the Ombudsman due to a lack of resources. She is now taking legal action over an alleged failure to carry out a proper probe into the wider circumstances because of those budget constraints.