John Finucane, the son of murdered human rights solicitor Pat Finucane, has been elected as the new Lord Mayor of Belfast.

The outgoing mayor, Deirdre Hargey, handed over the chain of office at Belfast City Council's annual general meeting on Tuesday.

Outgoing Lord Mayor @DeirdreHargey hands over the chain of office to party colleague @johnfinucane at tonight's AGM pic.twitter.com/2yiI80BUAE

— Belfast City Council (@belfastcc) May 21, 2019

Pat Finucane represented IRA hunger strikers and was killed in front of his family by Ulster Defence Association (UDA) gunmen at his home in February 1989.

He was the same age as his son is now.

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has previously called for an independent public inquiry into Mr Finucane's murder.

His comments came after the Finucane family lost a UK Supreme Court challenge in February, over the decision not to hold a public inquiry into his murder.

However, they won a declaration that an effective investigation into his death was not carried out.

Pat Finucane | File photo

The court unanimously found there has not been an investigation compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Following the ruling, John Finucane said: "It is time for the murder of Pat Finucane to be properly and publicly investigated in a public inquiry."

He was a newly-elected member of Belfast City Council in the May 2019 local elections there.

The rotation of Belfast's mayoral post will see the DUP take it in 2020, the Alliance Party in 2021 and Sinn Féin again in 2022.

It is thought that the SDLP will be granted the post of deputy lord mayor next year.