( CNN ) -- The tragedy of Ireland 's violent past seemed close to the surface this week as an Irish presidential candidate was confronted about his former role as an IRA commander , and Britain 's prime minister talked with a family about a Catholic victim of `` the troubles . '' Irish presidential candidate Martin McGuinness was confronted Monday by a man claiming to be the son of a soldier killed by the Irish Republican Army in the 1980s , as McGuinness campaigned ahead of Election Day , October 27 . David Kelly confronted McGuinness in Athlone , Ireland , demanding answers about his father , Patrick Kelly , who he said had been shot dead with a trainee police officer as they attempted to rescue a kidnapped businessman in the Republic of Ireland in 1983 . As shoppers and the media looked on , Kelly demanded that McGuinness name the killers , to which McGuinness replied , `` I do n't know who was responsible for the killing of your father . '' Kelly then accused McGuinness of having been a member of the IRA 's ruling Army Council at the time of the killing -- which McGuinness denied . `` You are a liar . I want justice for my father , '' Kelly said . McGuinness , a former IRA commander and now a leader of the political party Sinn Fein , stepped down from his position as Northern Ireland 's deputy first minister to run for president of the Republic of Ireland . Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom , while the Republic of Ireland is an independent state . Meanwhile , on Tuesday the widow of murdered Catholic Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane and other family members will hold talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron about their demand for a public inquiry into his 1989 killing . The family says they suspect the British government sanctioned the killing . Finucane , 39 , had represented IRA members in many high-profile cases , but he had also represented pro-British , or loyalist , terrorists . He was gunned down by a loyalist gang at his Belfast home , in front of his wife and three children . His family has long believed the security forces cooperated with the killers . The man convicted of Finucane 's murder was a police informer . John Finucane was the youngest at the family dinner table on the day of the killing , just 8 years old . Now a lawyer himself , he will also attend Tuesday 's meeting at Downing Street . `` The meeting is at the request of the prime minister and we expect to be told what his intentions are , '' he told CNN . `` We are optimistic and hopeful he will announce there is an inquiry and the inquiry is one we can engage with . We are cautiously optimistic , but there have been let-downs over the past 22 years . '' Finucane says he has `` absolutely no doubt '' the state was involved in his father 's murder . `` That 's not just my opinion , that 's the opinion of Sir John Stevens , the most senior policeman in England , when he examined it . It 's also the opinion of Peter Cory , '' a retired Canadian judge , `` who was tasked with looking at the evidence in the case to decide whether an inquiry was necessary . So it 's not just my family that believe there was collusion . `` I think it 's pretty much accepted that there was collusion in my father 's killing . '' The question , he said , is `` how high up the chain of command that went . '' Finucane added that , `` in the absence of a transparent examination of all the relevant evidence , I believe it went as high as the office where I 'm going to meet the prime minister . '' The British prime minister at the time was Margaret Thatcher . While the almost daily violence of the 1970s and 1980s is a thing of the past in Northern Ireland , remnants of `` the troubles '' remain . Some terrorist splinter groups remain active and even have the capacity to kill . Still , the current campaign is on a much smaller scale than in the past . Sinn Fein , viewed as the IRA 's political wing , is now a key player in the peace process and shares power with its former bitter enemies , pro-British lawmakers , in a coalition government in Belfast . But this week 's events show how old wounds still haunt and divide the island . Finucane believes facing the past is the key to continuing progress . `` The issue of the past is the single most important issue that has the ability to bring both sides of the community here back to a very dark place , '' he said , `` and unresolved cases like my father 's do nothing but damage the present society . ''
Man confronts Republic candidate demanding answers for his father 's killing . Comment: Family of murdered lawyer Pat Finucane will talk with British Prime Minister Cameron . Finucane 's family wants inquiry , and says British government was complicit .