Clause 66 - Display of Royal Arms at courts
Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill
4:45 pm
Thank you very much, Mr. Pike. I shall try not to go astray. There is only one edifice being built, and it is there for all to see. I shall certainly share my insights with the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) if he wishes, as the point is essential in relation to amendment No. 274.
May I make a personal observation on symbols? I have no problem living with anybody else's symbols, and I never have had. I was raised in a little village, where the symbols of my tradition simply did not exist. I was reared on the symbols of Orangeism, Unionism and Britishness, and then along came 30 years of violence. Lo and behold, what did those who called themselves patriotic Irish republicans do? They copied exactly what had been done with Orange, Unionist and British symbols and started to use the Irish symbols in the same provocative way. I have no time for either tendency.
I want to respect people's symbols and traditions, and what they mean to them, and do not want to cause offence to anyone in that regard. But neither do I want symbols of any kind to be used provocatively—although I do not suggest that that is the case in this
instance—or in a manner that would retard progress. I suggest that the use of symbols would retard progress in the context described in the clause.
I shall leave the matter there. I hope that I have made my position clear.