Mr James Molyneaux: Is the Minister aware that access to the countryside has created problems for many farmers who face public liability claims, a great many of which are entirely bogus and, in some areas, so numerous that insurance companies are refusing to provide cover?
Mr James Molyneaux: Will the right hon. Gentleman and the Minister in the other place consider convening a meeting of bankers, now that three more banks are coming to Northern Ireland, for the purpose of studying how they might best assist small industries in the Province? That is not to be confused with any proximity exercise.
Mr James Molyneaux: I have no means of knowing whether the Chair has arranged for Lord Nolan to sit in on the debate, and if so, whether he can blow a whistle so that anyone who appears to have an interest in the matters under discussion can be forewarned. In a way, all of us are bound to have financial interests somewhere in the 11 pages of this order. I am distinctly nervous when it comes to the mention of...
Mr James Molyneaux: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for mentioning my part of the United Kingdom. There would be two methods of introducing the provisions in Northern Ireland. First, the Bill could be amended at a later stage to include Northern Ireland. After all, the exclusion of Scotland from two particular aspects of the Bill produces rather more real exclusions than could possibly apply in the case of...
Mr James Molyneaux: Does the Minister agree that companies in all parts of the United Kingdom could benefit greatly from the promotion of the enterprise investment scheme, which has the potential to bring together companies who have money to invest and companies—particularly small companies—which are desperately in need of funding? In that regard and in the light of the problems affecting the Fokker aircraft...
Mr James Molyneaux: I am delighted to follow the hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Smith), particularly in the light of his distinguished record as a Minister in the Northern Ireland Office. Having held that office, he will be as aware as I am of the 26 extremely small councils that will be responsible for handling the landfill tax. He will know that they are starved of resources and that their rating machinery...
Mr James Molyneaux: Does the Minister agree that confidence could be further restored by simplifying the methods of supplying grant assistance to relatively small companies, particularly those that employ fewer than 20 people? Might one of the instruments to do that be the enterprise investment scheme?
Mr James Molyneaux: The Prime Minister will have noted that on page 8 of the communiqué, there appear the words: kept on a sound track". Assuming that those words refer not to some method of amplification but to sound money within Europe, and in view of the fact that the Prime Minister has rightly said that the decision is one of the most important this country has taken for, perhaps, 200 years, will he...
Mr James Molyneaux: I share the reservations of the right hon. Member for Worthing (Sir T. Higgins) in regard to the curious timetable in the early weeks of each new Session. That timetable, and the reasons for it, become more bewildering every year. The only advantage is that one can indulge in tendering advice to the Treasury Bench in regard to the Budget, which I shall try to do with restraint in the brief...
Mr James Molyneaux: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the security situation in Northern Ireland. [36906]
Mr James Molyneaux: As Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary concluded this week that the Royal Ulster Constabulary "is efficient and effective", will the Secretary of State assure us that resources will be made available to counter general serious crime, which can be expected to increase following the reduction in terrorist crime?
Mr James Molyneaux: I join others in congratulating the Minister on his appointment. I hope that we will have many brisk exchanges across the Floor of the House. I welcome what he has just said about Northern Ireland. While I am by no means hostile to the claims of the Scottish fishermen and their representatives here in this House, I would like to thank the Minister and his noble Friend for their efforts. Given...
Mr James Molyneaux: As you have been kind enough to call me early in the debate, Madam Deputy Speaker, let me take the opportunity to congratulate and welcome the hon. Member for North Down (Mr. McCartney). My hon. Friends and I look forward to his contribution if he catches your eye, as I trust that he will. On 30 June last year, in another debate on the extension of the Northern Ireland Act 1974, the Secretary...
Mr James Molyneaux: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he intends to make a start on restoring accountable democracy to the people of Northern Ireland. [29808]
Mr James Molyneaux: rose—[Interruption.]
Mr James Molyneaux: I am reluctant to interrupt the conversations to which you referred earlier, Madam Speaker, but perhaps I have your permission to do so. [Interruption.]
Mr James Molyneaux: I am indebted to you, Madam Speaker. As the four constitutional parties have been engaged since 14 July 1987—eight years ago—with the Secretary of State and his two distinguished predecessors, does he feel that he can now proceed to reward those parties and that ministerial diligence and patience by giving us at long last some real influence over the affairs of our Province?
Mr James Molyneaux: When he comes to draft the legislation, will the Secretary of State bear in mind the plight of the owners of Orlit houses, which were built by non-registered housing associations and thereby excluded from grant repair schemes because of a flaw in the drafting?
Mr James Molyneaux: A quango?
Mr James Molyneaux: The hon. Member for Antrim, North (Rev. I. Paisley) should be congratulated on securing the Adjournment debate on planning. This time next year we shall not be able to raise such matters on the Floor of the House if the Minister goes ahead with his plans to transfer responsibility for planning from his Department to some weird agency. The hon. Gentleman made it very clear that we are not...