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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I greatly appreciate how sensitive and controversial this issue is. As with many parapets, I put my head above this one with great trepidation, but it is right that I state our point of view. In his report on policing, Patten planned that the 50:50 recruitment process take place over 10 years, so we expect the policy to end in 2010. We hope that the devolution of policing functions to the Assembly will have occurred by then and that it will be able to end the 50:50 process of its own volition. There are some important issues, however, and one group suffering from the policy has not been mentioned this afternoon—people from ethnic minorities.