Mr Harold McCusker: Bearing in mind that at the centre of those proposals is the proposition that employers should keep registers of the religious affiliations of all their employees, will the Minister consider the suggestion that, to set an example to private employers, he should instruct DHSS officers in Northern Ireland to start keeping registers of the religious affiliations of the unemployed in Northern...
Mr Harold McCusker: There is now much less than an hour for hon. Members to comment on the order. That is itself is a serious commentary on the way in which Northern Ireland is governed. This is a lengthy and complex order. The two Front-Bench spokesmen will sum up and other hon. Members will have 30 or 40 minutes to comment on the order. Therefore, I shall not take too long. My time for participating in this...
Mr Harold McCusker: I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the complete withdrawal of all British customs and excise services in South Armagh on Saturday 5 March 1988. The matter is specific because it refers to the complete shutdown of Newry customs...
Mr Harold McCusker: As the Spanish authorities have their own territorial dispute with this country over Gibraltar, will the Foreign Secretary convey to them the particular thanks of the people I represent for helping to rid us of those extremely dangerous people, who thought as little of the lives of innocent Gibraltarians and Spaniards as they do of those of people in either Northern Ireland or this country?...
Mr Harold McCusker: Does the Leader of the House recall the anger expressed on this Bench yesterday at the failure of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to make a statement of the House about matters relating to equality of opportunity in Northern Ireland? Instead, the Secretary of State decided to make the announcement to a press conference in Belfast yesterday afternoon. Has the Leader of the House...
Mr Harold McCusker: Further to the point of order raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for Lagan Valley (Mr. Molyneaux), Mr. Speaker. May I ask whether you accept the implication in the statement made by the Leader of the House, that an answer given to a planted question by a Conservative Back Bencher is equivalent to a statement made on the affairs of Northern Ireland?
Mr Harold McCusker: Is the Secretary of State aware that the three incidents that were investigated occurred in what was my constituency? I support the Secretary of State in asking people to understand the circumstances of six years ago. Is the House aware that, in the previous 11 years, five of the six men who were shot and their associates — this is not intended in any way to excuse any wrongdoing—had...
Mr Harold McCusker: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. For three successive weeks now, very important talks have been taking place between this Government and the Government of the Irish Republic about matters affecting the vital interests of the people of Northern Ireland, matters of life and death for them and increasingly matters affecting people on the mainland as well. I appeal to you as a defender of...
Mr Harold McCusker: Will the right hon. Gentleman tell us the difference between "shortly" and "as soon as possible", which was how he described last week the timescale in which we might expect a statement from the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland? Has he any concept of how the people of Northern Ireland feel after three weeks in which the Secretary of State has warned us of a renewed terrorist assault...
Mr Harold McCusker: The right hon. Gentleman said that we would have that statement as soon as possible. May I press him on what he means by "as soon as possible"? Is he aware that we have already been waiting for two weeks to discuss those matters, in which time foreign politicians have been given an opportunity that has been denied us to press the Secretary of State on them? Is he further aware that, in the...
Mr Harold McCusker: What disciplinary action is to be taken against those secret service agents who were up to their necks in this matter, who may well have initiated all the actions and whose presence is confirmed by reference to the national interest?
Mr Harold McCusker:
Mr Harold McCusker: Will the Prime Minister find a few minutes today to consider whether anything of any value is left of the Anglo-Irish Agreement? Will she now concede that it has failed in its primary objective of reducing violence in Northern Ireland, not only as illustrated in the statistics of the past two years, but in the statement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland last week that the people...
Mr Harold McCusker: At some time during the two-day debate on the Local Government Finance Bill, will the Leader of the House try to ensure that the House—in particular hon. Members representing Northern Ireland constituencies — is told why the poll tax proposals will not extend to Northern Ireland? After all, if the poll tax is for the benefit of all the citizens of the United Kingdom, surely the citizens...
Mr Harold McCusker: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he intends to publish proposals for a poll tax in Northern Ireland, including a proposed timetable for its introduction.
Mr Harold McCusker: If that reply is not an Irish joke, is it not at least an inversion of logic to suggest that one monitors what one does to 97·5 per cent. of the population before applying it to the remaining 2·5 per cent.? As all local government services of any note in Northern Ireland are now administered by central Government, and as central Government now collects all the local government rates in...
Mr Harold McCusker: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
Mr Harold McCusker: Is the Secretary of State aware that, if the truth were told, in the aftermath of this latest tragedy the people of Northern Ireland are just as cynical as the House and officials in the Northern Ireland Office, because one tragedy is piled on another, and perhaps therein lies our greatest danger? On the basis that hope is perhaps one of the ways in which we can avoid retaliation, and that...
Mr Harold McCusker: The Leader of the House will be aware that no two people could be more diametrically opposed in their views on the future of Northern Ireland or terrorism than myself and the hon. Member for Brent, East (Mr. Livingstone). However, will he remember that there are more people involved in the current controversy than the hon. Member for Brent, East and those who seek to defend the honour of...
Mr Harold McCusker: —or their families and it is important. If there is evidence available to prove or disprove the allegation, will the Leader of the House arrange for a statement to be made as soon as possible, to clear the air once and for all?
