Clause 8 - Trial by Special Tribunal
Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill
9:00 am
Lorely Burt (Shadow Minister, Northern Ireland Affairs; Solihull, Liberal Democrat)
I hope that today we shall continue as before, under your admirable leadership, Sir Nicholas. I intend to speak in support of amendment No. 108 and new clause 13, and to oppose the stand part motion.
The amendments in the group all relate to an issue that my party regards as fundamental—the status of the hearing. We firmly believe that defendants should be tried in the Crown courts. As drafted, the Bill sets aside due process and the normal rule of law. The people who will avail themselves of the measures are people who have been accused of serious terrorist offences. Why should they not be tried in a criminal court?
The Bill shuts out the courts from considering such cases, whereas we should be demonstrating that society, the Government and the offender all recognise that the offence was wrong, and that due process is being observed. The proposals will make it much more difficult to hold offenders to public account for their actions, and I am concerned that if justice is not seen to be done, the Government will be licensing vigilantes to take matters into their own hands. Unfortunately, there are still elements of society in Northern Ireland who prefer to do just that, rather than trust the police and the courts to deal with offenders. We discussed that when we considered the position of people who have been intimidated into moving out of their homes and who have been exiled from Northern Ireland. Who is to say that there will not be people who feel that justice has not been done, and take the law into their own hands?
We are also concerned that the processes set out in the Bill will undermine the current criminal justice system. I have the utmost respect for the judiciary, both those currently serving on the bench and those who have stepped down. The Secretary of State has said that the special tribunal will consist of a retired judge. I am concerned that giving a person outside the judiciary the ability to try, convict and sentence a person would drive a coach and horses through the valuable criminal justice system in Northern Ireland. I appreciate that retired judges do much valuable work, such as involvement in Government inquiries, but those inquiries do not try or convict a person for criminal offences.
The Bill sets out all kinds of special mechanisms to deal with applicants—appeals commissioners, a special tribunal, a special prosecutor and a special appeals tribunal. I asked the Secretary of State to estimate the likely cost of setting up those additional unwanted mechanisms. He replied that it was not yet possible fully to predict the cost, but stated:
“The costs will be met from within the NIO’s existing resources.”—[Official Report, 12 December 2005; Vol. 440, c.1740W.]
In other words, there will be no additional funding.
We shall certainly press this matter to a Division.