New clause 5 - Equality Duty
Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill
10:00 am
I thank the Minister for those remarks. Of course, in those circumstances, the DPP must surely decide on merit. There is no doubt about that. However, the need to make a decision on merit does not prevent him from applying the other requirements under section 75. It is stretching the argument too far to suggest a hypothetical situation in which the DPP is wrestling to decide a case on its merits and at the same time wondering what the effect might be on community relations. I cannot imagine any DPP who is worth his salt looking at a case in that way. I am grateful to the Minister for his intervention, but I am still not convinced.
I want to make two other points. The first concerns perception. We have a new Bill that introduces a new approach to justice in a new political dispensation in a new millennium and century-