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Northern Ireland

My Lords, I go back to a remark by the Minister a few minutes ago. He said that Sinn Fein had reneged on the agreement it had with the two governments and from which this Bill derived. Is it the case that from the very beginning it was made clear to Sinn Fein that the Bill would offer the same relief, if that is the right word, to security forces that was offered to the on-the-runs? In the light of the anguish suffered by the victims at the prospect of this Bill, which the Statement speaks of very eloquently, would it not have been a good deal better for all the implications of the Bill to have been thoroughly sorted out, established and nailed down before the Bill was ever introduced?