Clause 3 - Certificates of eligibility
Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill
10:30 am
David Hanson (Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office; Delyn, Labour)
Mr. Taylor, I hope that you and colleagues on the Committee have had a pleasant weekend away from the fray. It seems a long time since we commenced our debate on the group of amendments before us, which we were mid-way through on Thursday afternoon. Thanks to the good offices of Hansard, I have been able to refresh my memory of the conduct of the debate and I hope that I can answer some of the questions that were asked then.
The purpose of clause 3 is to define what makes applicants for a certificate of eligibility eligible for entrance to the scheme. The Government have specified in the Bill particularly severe and tight conditions for the scheme. For the benefit of the Committee, I shall set out those conditions. Subsection (3) states that
“The conditions are ... that the applicant does not support a specified organisation ... is not concerned or likely to be concerned in the commission ... or instigation of acts of terrorism ... that he has not been convicted of an offence committed on or after 10th April 1998 ... that no sentence of imprisonment for a term of five years or more has been imposed on him on conviction of ... an offence ... or ... a serious foreign offence committed on or after that date.”
The Government believe strongly that the conditions of eligibility are tight and define the scheme appropriately. Many of the amendments in the group would make changes to the conditions that applicants under the scheme must meet to be considered eligible. Some amendments refer to a condition that an organisation to which the applicant is affiliated is not indulging in paramilitary violence or criminality; others would make minor changes, such as adding a condition that an individual has not been involved in the commission of acts of terrorism since the Good Friday agreement, as opposed to currently being involved in such activity.
As I have said on several occasions, the reason why the Government have set the eligibility criteria as they have is that the scheme in the Bill provides for a logical extension of the early release scheme under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998. For that reason, the conditions in the clause closely mirror the conditions for eligibility in the early release scheme. The amendments would change those conditions.
Some amendments request that provisions mirroring those in respect of the granting of a licence or the cancellation of a certificate should apply at the certification stage. In respect of licences, such provisions refer to the applicant being a danger to the public or the organisation that the individual has supported becoming specified. The judgment whether a person is a danger to the public is relevant to the decisions surrounding the passing of a life sentence, but it can be made only after a proper assessment has been made following conviction. It is in the interests of the applicant to co-operate with that and I do not understand how it can be made in the person’s absence, or why it should be made before a person is even charged with an offence.
On Thursday, members of the Committee discussed the relevance of a person’s past affiliations. The amendments touch on whether they should be a matter for consideration by the certification commissioner. In my view, the test should be based on the current support for organisations because the scheme is predicated on activities carried out prior to 10 April 1998. Some of the offences that might be considered under the scheme may well have occurred 10, 15 or 20 years ago. The test of whether an individual is eligible for the scheme should be whether he or she currently supports an organisation. [Interruption.] Does the hon. Member for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Ellwood) wish to intervene?