Three inquiries cost £95m to date

The cost of public inquiries examining allegations of collusion by members of the security forces in three murders in Northern Ireland is approaching £100m.

Up to the end of last month, the inquiries into the murders of Rosemary Nelson, Billy Wright and Robert Hamill had cost almost £95m.

The biggest bill - just over £42m - is for the inquiry into the murder of Lurgan solicitor Mrs Nelson.

The Wright and Hamill inquiries have so far cost about £26.5m each.

BBC Northern Ireland home affairs correspondent Vincent Kearney said: "The government and the Chief Constable have repeatedly criticised the cost of policing the past - and the latest figures are likely to provoke more criticism."

Mrs Nelson was killed by an under-car booby-trap bomb near her home in March 1999. The inquiry panel has finished hearing evidence and is due to publish its findings next year.

The inquiry into the murder of LVF leader Billy Wright inside the Maze prison in December 1997 has also finished hearing evidence.

On Thursday the Northern Ireland Prison Service said its participation in the Billy Wright Inquiry cost over £1.1m in the last year alone.

Mr Hamill was beaten to death by a loyalist mob in Portadown in 1997. The inquiry into his killing will resume hearing public evidence in September.

In 2004, Canadian judge Peter Cory recommended a public inquiry be held into allegations of collusion in the three murders.

The cost of those three inquiries is dwarfed by the bill for the Bloody Sunday Inquiry which could reach £200m.

Sinn Fein spokesperson Francie Molloy said the focus should be on why the inquiries are taking place rather than the costs.

"It would do victims and survivors a much greater service if the British government, instead of playing a bogus numbers game, announced that they were finally prepared to come clean on their past involvement in collusion, state murder and other human rights abuses," he added.