---

Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

The Bill will extend the investigatory powers provided for in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 to Northern Ireland. Actions that aid the work of the Assets Recovery Agency in the Province will certainly be welcomed across the community. People were heartened to hear of the raid last week—in which the ARA and its counterpart in the Irish Republic, the Criminal Assets Bureau, were involved—on a farm, which straddles the border, belonging to a recent IRA chief of staff, Thomas ““Slab”” Murphy. According to reports in the press, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Belfast, East said, hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash and cheques were discovered in a hay shed, as well as laptops and hundreds of files and documents. Law-abiding citizens in the United Kingdom, especially in Northern Ireland, could not understand why those so openly flaunting their lawlessness, from both sides of the divided community, appeared for so long to be the untouchables. They seemed to be treated with kid gloves. Moves against Murphy and the criminal godfathers can only rebuild confidence in the political process and the primacy of law and order. I was requested to allow the Front Benchers to wind up at 9.30 pm, so I shall not make any further comments. We will listen with interest to the responses to the debate, especially from the Minister, and we look forward to further discussion of the Bill in Committee.