Clause 4 - Making and dealing with applications for certificates
Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill
6:00 pm
No, it would not be the same, particularly if the Bill were amended in the way in which many of us have sought to amend it. Some of us wanted an approach that was victim-centred and victim-sensitive, and said that victims should be notified in respect of anything that might appear on a certificate, and should be notified at the point of application. We want consistency with our position on other aspects of the Bill and our other amendments. That is why we say that, if there were new offences and new crimes that qualified under the Bill—they might well be not at all related to the other offences; they might be about completely different events, involve completely different accomplices and have completely different victims—that should be the subject of a separate application, of which victims should be duly informed.
My hon. Friends on the Government Benches might be happy to be inconsistent in how they treat different aspects of the Bill and in what they say about them, as well as in how they vote, but some of us are labouring to be consistent, because we are dealing with serious issues on behalf of people who have suffered a lot.