Schedule 1
Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill
4:15 pm
I beg to move amendment No. 33, in page 23, line 34, at end insert—
‘“71F Location of donation reports
A Northern Ireland report must not at any time be kept in any office of the Commission in Northern Ireland.”'.
The amendment is very simple and could be described as a probing amendment. I would like, as I believe would many others, to be reassured by the Minister that information that is given to the Electoral Commission will be held in a safe place, preferably in London rather than Belfast. The reason for that is simple. In the period between now and 2010—and afterwards if necessary—there will be a serious risk that information that has been disclosed, but not publicly disclosed, will be leaked. We would like it not to be leaked, but if it is, we do not want the wrong people to be blamed. We do not want staff in a Belfast office automatically getting the blame.
More fundamentally, we are fully aware that paramilitary organisations have sought at times to gather information in the public sector. As I said in our debate this morning, a member of the Real IRA was convicted in October 2004 after he had accessed a number of personal details from records held at the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast. There have also been times, dare I say, when there have been leaks from the Northern Ireland Office to hon. Members across the Committee. It appears that in 2002 the IRA was operating a spy ring inside the NIO. Those are some of the reasons, and they are enough justification to say that information kept in Belfast might not be as safe as it would be if it were kept elsewhere.
I am keen to have some reassurance from the Minister that information that has been disclosed will be kept in a safe place. Should I get that, I shall be very happy to withdraw the amendment.