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Northern Ireland

To be honest, my Lords, that last question gives the game away. This is the whole point. If members of the security forces, without any protection from the kind of plan in this Bill, subject to normal military and legal procedures, were prosecuted for something that happened in the exact circumstances described by the noble Lord, and were found guilty by a court and sent to prison when the terrorists have taken advantage of the situation, think how it would feel. If the noble Lord was listening, the Secretary of State gave this as an example of why we do not want one-sided treatment. That is the whole point of the exercise, and of course it is the sticking point for Sinn Fein. I pay tribute to anyone who has served in Northern Ireland, politically or militarily, and nothing I say knocks that, but no one can say the Government are disguising what we are doing, having made a Statement in the House of Commons and in this place as to what our intentions are. I shall deal with the two issues arising from what the noble Lord said. First, we are trying to deal with getting forward on the issue of the on-the-runs, because it will not go away. It certainly will not go away for the security forces, as has been said by the noble Lord, by direct and explicit example. Secondly, we have to deal with the issue of the institutions in Northern Ireland. I agree that part-time commuting direct-rule Ministers looking after more than one department is at least second best compared to local politicians. The MLAs are elected, but they are not doing anything. They are writing letters to Ministers and going on delegations, but they are not legislating. They are not holding Ministers to account, because we are not going to account to MLAs: we are accountable to this place and to the other place. It is almost pretend politics. We want them to be a fully effective legislative assembly, controlling local politicians who are operating as Ministers, taking decisions on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland, and we want that as soon as possible.