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Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 (Specified Organisations) Order 2005

I thank the Minister for bringing the order before the Committee this afternoon. I have no wish to detain the Committee unnecessarily. Needless to say, the Opposition supports the order specifying the Ulster Volunteer Force. I have some comments and questions for the Minister. The Independent Monitoring Commission concluded in paragraph 3.30 of its seventh report, published last week:"““We conclude that the UVF is, in the words of our Fifth Report, ‘active, violent and ruthless’ and we believe it will continue to use violence where it thinks that would be in its interests. It remains an extremely dangerous organisation””." The IMC’s sixth report, on the UVF/LVF feud, catalogued the number of incidents in which the UVF, is involved, as the Minister outlined. In our view, the scale of these activities is more than sufficient for the Secretary of State to use his powers under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 to specify that organisation. It is a far cry from the commitment to exclusively democratic and peaceful means set out both in the Act and the Belfast agreement. During the summer we saw the sickening spectacle of loyalists attacking the police and the security forces. We utterly condemn such behaviour. As my honourable friend the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary said at the Conservative Party conference earlier this month:"““Whatever sense of disillusion loyalist communities might feel today, none of that can ever justify sectarian attacks on Catholics, nor the sickening spectacle we saw last month of men bragging about their loyalty to the United Kingdom and then hurling rocks at United Kingdom police officers. There is no place in a modem, democratic Northern Ireland for paramilitaries, whether republican or loyalist””." I am sure that all Members of the Committee will endorse that stance, and I hope that the call by the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party at the weekend for loyalist paramilitaries to:"““Engage with the Decommissioning Commission . . . place your arms beyond use . . . and commit yourselves to exclusively peaceful and democratic means””," will be heeded. The debate takes place against a background of increasing controversy over plans for further reforms of policing in Northern Ireland and possible plans for further government support for so-called community restorative justice projects. There is a good deal of fear within Northern Ireland that their effect will be to hand over the effective policing of loyalist and republican areas to paramilitaries or those associated with them. That would be completely unacceptable to us and, I hope, to noble Lords throughout this House. On Friday, the chairman of the Policing Board in Northern Ireland, Professor Sir Desmond Rea, wrote to the Secretary of State voicing the unanimous concerns of the board—including and especially those of nationalist members—over the Government’s plans. He demanded an urgent meeting with the Secretary of State, warning of an,"““imminent danger across Northern Ireland of seeing a two-tier system of policing introduced by the back door, with self-appointed groups taking on quasi-policing roles—including stopping and searching people in the street—squeezing out PSNI, and being paid out of public funds””," and stated:"““There is no way that we can stand idly by and allow this to happen””." We agree with the board that legitimate restorative justice schemes can play a useful role within the overall criminal justice system. We did not oppose the schemes established under the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, because they were just that—a full and integral part of the criminal justice administered by the state. In particular, it was made very specific in Part 4 of that Act, dealing with youth justice, that the youth conferencing element of the restorative justice—in many ways its key aspect—had to have the active presence and participation of a police officer. For the sake of clarity, I should say that that is in Section 57. Will the Minister therefore give us assurances that: first, any future community restorative justice schemes sanctioned by the Northern Ireland Office will not simply work alongside the criminal justice system but remain fully integrated within it; secondly, nobody with any history of involvement in paramilitary activity will be permitted to participate in the youth conference element of community restorative justice systems; and thirdly, all youth conferences will continue to be attended by a real, full-time and fully trained member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, not by any police community support officers that might be introduced in the future, or by members of an extended part-time reserve? Any departure from the existing provisions of the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act will inevitably fuel further suspicions that the Government are prepared to weaken the safeguards currently in place, and to introduce precisely the situation about which the chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board warns. I hope therefore that the Minister will be able to answer those questions clearly and unequivocally. They are matters of the greatest importance and the subject of concern across Northern Ireland today. My party will fight tooth and nail against any proposal that sees restorative justice contracted out of the criminal justice system or administered by groups that are effectively fronts for paramilitaries. I shall return to the order. It is a regrettable necessity and, toothless as it is, it will have our support.