Former MP for Belfast South
This is the first time I have spoken in a debate, under you, Mr. Murton, as Mr. Deputy Speaker. May I take the opportunity of expressing to you my personal congratulations and good wishes on your elevation. The formation of an Executive-designate represents a remarkable personal success for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. I genuinely join with others in...
I would not disagree with that argument. But there is always a danger in putting in a fixed figure. It can appear to be good, but any flexibility has gone and one finds at the first test that one is up against a legislative situation which requires amendment. In an emotion-charged situation in Ulster today it is easy to side with the felings of emotion. Indeed, it is politically popular so...
My hon. Friend is a much more avid newspaper reader than I am and I must admit that I was not aware of any feeling on the part of my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashford either for or against integration. I was seeking to take up his argument that integration was not on offer. UDI is as utterly repugnant as is the continuance of direct rule. We are left, therefore, with only one other...
I apologise to you, Mr. Speaker, and to my hon. Friend the Minister of State for not having heard the opening observations of my hon. Friend. Though obviously I profoundly regret the abolition of the office of governor, nevertheless the amendment goes a considerable way towards meeting the anxieties which were widely expressed in Northern Ireland about the office of governor. I welcome the...
When we were considering these matters earlier there arose a point in connection with the repeal of a previous item of legislation which affected the Queen's University in Belfast. I understood that at one stage it was intended that the matter should be the subject of an amendment in another place, but, for technical reasons which my hon. Friend the Minister of State has made clear to me,...
May I at the outset declare that I am involved with an animal welfare organisation: namely, the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals—no relation whatever, other than in name, to the organisation with which my hon. Friend the Member for Gillingham (Mr. Burden) is involved. In common with other animal welfare organisations, the USPCA deplores the export of live animals for...
I was careful not to make any point against the RSPCA documents which I have seen. I accept its validity, coming from such an authoritative and responsible organisation. The point I am trying to make is that sometimes photographic material is used to support a case which is not altogether reliable. There is obviously the humanitarian argument, and we are all aware of the grisly incidents...
I would have thought that the amount of money needed to bring our large abattoirs up to that standard would be an investment well worth making. That would considerably assist in the economic argument of the dead meat trade. I very much look forward to the day when there will be no such thing as the export of live animals for slaughter abroad. The meat processing industry in this country...
