Clause 3 - Certificates of eligibility
Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill
11:30 am
Lady Hermon (North Down, UUP)
I am pleased to follow the hon. Gentleman, who has made a sensible contribution, but I am sorry that he will not vote for either amendment. I shall certainly support the amendment tabled by the hon. Member for Belfast, South. I regret that a similar amendment that I tabled was not selected for debate, but I make no criticism at all, because it covered the same point.
This is obnoxious legislation and the Minister must accept that amendments will have to be made if it is ever to see the light of day. As a minimum, he has to accept these changes: there must be a requirement on the defendant, however prominent he or she is, to appear before the tribunal and show his or her face, and the Bill must be time limited. It is an untenable position for the Government to set up such complex and expensive apparatus, consisting of a certification commissioner, a special tribunal with three members, appeals commissioners and a special appeal tribunal. It is wholly unacceptable that the public should be expected to pay, through taxation, to support a parallel process that I am convinced the judiciary in Northern Ireland finds entirely repulsive. I am speaking not of the individuals who will fill those posts, but of the parallel process.
The provisions must be time limited, and I urge the Minister, who speaks for the Government, to say clearly to the Committee that they, and he in particular, will accept an amendment to make the provisions time limited.