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Proceeding contribution from Lord Steinberg (Conservative) in the House of Lords on Wednesday, 11 January 2006. It occurred during Ministerial statement on Northern Ireland.


Northern Ireland

My Lords, I am sure everybody is relieved to hear the Statement, and I am grateful for it. My noble friend Lord Glentoran has said what we feel. I do not want to talk not about the endgame or say that I am relieved that the Bill has been withdrawn—I want to ask where we go from here. It has already been mentioned that the Police Service of Northern Ireland must receive complete and unequivocal support from all political parties in Northern Ireland. I should be grateful for confirmation of that. Where we go from here, in talking about the endgame, draws me on to the subject of the considerable criminality, which, perhaps as a result of the lack of political movement, is greater now in Northern Ireland than it has been for some years. As noble Lords are probably well aware, we are not getting the dramatic explosions and shootings of soldiers—thank God. But we are getting a growing criminality cult, which makes it even more important that the Police Service of Northern Ireland is fully supported. Finally, because the people of Northern Ireland have had such a difficult time for so many years, does the Minister recognise that the act of decommissioning could have been done in a better and more straightforward way, as it caused for people in Northern Ireland and elsewhere a concern that it had not been done in a completely open way?


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
677 c175-6 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Devolution Offenders Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland government Terrorism
Legislation
Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill 2005-06
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk