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Northern Ireland Bill

I will leave it to the hon. Gentleman to speak on behalf of Sinn Fein. I will certainly not attempt to do so. I simply know that the people of Northern Ireland want to have real decisions taken within that Assembly. They want it to have as much power as is possible. If it is not possible immediately to have an Executive set up, the Members of that Assembly should press the Secretary of State to divest himself of some of the powers that this legislation gives him, and to devolve some of those powers in whatever way is possible, whether through a corporate Assembly, legislative devolution or administration devolution, to the elected representatives of the people of Northern Ireland. On privilege, again, I have difficulty with the position of the hon. Member for North Down (Lady Hermon). First, the terms are almost identical to those in 1998. Far from opposing the position in 1998, her party supported it. Therefore, what the Government are doing in relation to the privilege of the Assembly has consistency. Having discovered that, I think that she decided to see whether she could find some more secure ground, and became a defender of the media and the press—not always a popular position among politicians, but then she cannot be accused of always taking popular positions. I do not think, however, that the press have anything to fear. The Secretary of State may tell the hon. Lady and me whether this is indeed the case, but according to my reading of the legislation the statement, not the Member, is covered by privilege. If the statement is reported, it is covered by privilege, and the media are therefore entitled to publish it. The media will be covered in exactly the same way as the Member, because it is the statement that enjoys the privilege. As the hon. Lady said, the privilege is not the full privilege enjoyed by the House of Commons and the Northern Ireland Assembly created under the 1998 Act, but I do not believe that the distinction will have any real implications for Assembly Members or for the press. I agree with those who have said that it will be very difficult for anyone to prove malice in the courts. Indeed, I am not entirely sure whether it is right, if a Member uses—or abuses—privilege and attempts, with malice, to damage and defame individuals, for even this House to confer such a degree of privilege. I have used the privilege of this House on many occasions. I have named individuals, and made clear what information I have had about the activities of those individuals. However, I have never done that with malice. I have done it because I have believed it to be in the public interest, and have believed my facts to be accurate. If any Member stands up in the Northern Ireland Assembly and, with malice, determines to ““out”” or defame someone, I am not sure that that Member should enjoy the privilege of the Assembly—but I repeat yet again that it will not be the full-blown Assembly in which, normally, robust exchanges would take place that might require the exercise of that privilege. As a party that is always very careful about what it says and would not seek to stretch the bounds of privilege, my party has nothing to fear. I hope that the hon. Lady’s remarks are not a harbinger of something from which some of her Assembly colleagues may need protection.