Clause 1. — Provisions for giving the force of law to and currying into effect Irish Agreement.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 6 March 1922.

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Photo of Sir John Marriott Sir John Marriott , Oxford

I have listened carefully to this Debate, and I think my hon. Friends from Ulster have put forward a case which ought to be answered from the Government Bench. What is the Amendment they are suggesting? It is to introduce at this stage of the negotiations words which will make it absolutely clear that there shall be a Court of Appeal for Northern Ireland. As I understand the series of amazing speeches we have had from the Chief Secretary, we cannot possibly make this Amendment at this stage of the proceedings, because there is on the Statute Book the Act of 1920 which is so sacrosanct that we must not touch it. I thought the Act of 1920 was not operative at all in Southern Ireland. At any rate, the Chief Secretary has discovered that it is so sacrosanct that it must not be touched by any Amendment from these benches. If my hon. Friends press this matter to a Division, they will have the support of more than one of the English Members above the Gangway as a protest against the position taken up by the Chief Secretary. Every neutral observer in this Debate must have been entirely mystified by the attitude of the Chief Secretary. If he is sincere in the proposal he has made to hon. Gentlemen below the Gangway, let him agree to put these words in at once by accepting this Amendment.