Clause 1 - Offences to which the Act applies
Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill
5:00 pm
I know that the Minister says that some ground has already been covered, but I want to return him to some ground that he did not cover, in response to my previous intervention. If all progress depends on the passage of the Bill, and it all relates to a deal, or an understanding, that was reached with Sinn Fein and Sinn Fein alone—because no matter how often the Minister or the Secretary of State speak of agreement with parties, it involved only one party—why is the Minister so confident that that progress will not be jeopardised by the inclusion in the Bill of aspects that Sinn Fein and Gerry Adams now say are unacceptable? If Sinn Fein shows that it knows the meaning of the word “unacceptable”, and says that it will not have the Bill on these terms, and asks the Government to withdraw—if it says “Let’s call the whole thing off”—what will the Government do?