Part of Orders of the Day — Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Bill – in the House of Commons at 5:30 pm on 20 June 1991.
Mr Seamus Mallon
, Newry and Armagh
5:30,
20 June 1991
I thank the Minister for his kind words. It would be churlish of me not to welcome what he has said, in part at least.
Welcoming the Amendment, however, is almost akin to welcoming the news that one is going to be not hanged but half hanged. That is of course an exaggerated analogy, but I should like to take this opportunity to repeat a plea that I constantly make to the Minister.
In emergency legislation, we must always safeguard the rights of the individual, whoever that individual may be. The iniquitous business of stopping people on the street —especially young people—under guard of guns, and searching and questioning them, is not only humiliating; it is bad policing and bad military tactics, and completely counter-productive.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
