Lord Murphy of Torfaen: No, no; I do not think for one second that this amendment refers to or is about joint authority. What it is about is the recognition that both the British Government and the Irish Government are joint guarantors in international law of the Good Friday agreement. That is what it is about. Also, the agreement itself set up the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, which meets from time to...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: My Lords, it has been a fascinating if short debate. It has been a timely one, too, because this is the last occasion we will debate this issue in either House of Parliament before we celebrate or commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday or Belfast agreement in two or three weeks’ time. Looking around the Chamber, I see Members of your Lordships’ House who played a huge part in...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: My Lords, I very much support the points made by my noble friend Lady Lister with regard to human rights issues. Before I speak about those, however, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Patten, on an outstanding and powerful speech this morning. We discussed much of this last week: the relationship between the Good Friday agreement and the European Union and how the membership of both Ireland...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: My Lords, I support the amendment so eloquently spoken to by my noble friend Lord Hain. I remind the House that we are three weeks away from the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement. Those two decades ago it was my privilege, as the political development Minister at the time, to chair a good part of those negotiations—but in 1997 I had been appointed by the Prime Minister to be the...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: My Lords, I thank the Minister for the Statement, and agree with him on the need to restore the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland, especially as it is about four weeks away from the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday agreement. The commitment of the Government to the underlying principles of that agreement is very much to be welcomed. I understand the need to set a...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: My Lords, this has been a fascinating if rather short debate on an important subject. I recall that about 21 years ago, the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland visited me in my ministerial office with a suitcase. In the suitcase were about 300 to 400 fraudulent ballot papers. I suddenly realised that things were a bit different in Northern Ireland from my constituency in south...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: My Lords, I am happy to support the Minister in everything she has said about these regulations. A few years ago I had the privilege of chairing the Joint Select Committee on the draft of the Investigatory Powers Bill. The committee made around 80 recommendations which were all accepted by the Government, and I think that few Bills in the past couple of Sessions have been subject to as much...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will ensure that overcrowding does not restrict prisoners' access to chaplaincy services; and whether they intend to include such access in future performance measures.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to guarantee the continued provision of quality assured chaplaincy services to every prison in England and Wales by continuing the guidelines Faith and Pastoral Care for Prisoners (PSI 05/2016) and including those guidelines in any future prison policy frameworks.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to implement a systematic and quality assured communications gateway to enable prison staff to work with families to reduce self-harm and suicide.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to introduce performance measures on family contact covering every stage of a prisoner's sentence.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve access to release on temporary licence.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, even if it is as the 82nd speaker in today’s rather long but important debate. In all my years in Parliament, I have never been persuaded of the need for an elected second Chamber. I agree with elections—since 1973 I have fought 11, one every four years—but I do not think an elected Upper House will be anything other than a...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish their response to the submissions received through their consultation, Schools that work for everyone.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to agree the Church Supplemental Agreement.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of removing the 50 per cent cap on faith-based admissions on pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds who seek a place in a Catholic school.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the removal of the 50 per cent cap on faith-based admissions on the ethnic diversity of Catholic schools.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the regional demand from parents for places in Catholic schools; and how the removal of the 50 per cent cap on faith-based admissions will meet that demand.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the removal of the 50 per cent cap on faith-based admissions on the ability of the Catholic Church to open new schools.
Lord Murphy of Torfaen: My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Finn, as a fellow Welsh Peer, and to have heard her very good story. It is always a pleasure, of course, to speak in a debate initiated by the most reverend Primate, whose speech was very fine. The debate that has followed has been excellent in every respect. I looked up in the Library briefing the definition of character. I...