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Northern Ireland Bill

I hear what the hon. Gentleman says, but even during the six-month period, we need to make progress. It is in the power of 108 Assembly Members to come together and take the decision. It is an opportunity for the Assembly to step up to the plate, set up the Executive and take the important decisions on education, water charges, the future of local government and public administration that need to be taken. Select Committee members will recall that we visited Northern Ireland in connection with our brief foray into the reform of secondary education and the particular issue of the transfer test. I was struck by the number of parents who felt strongly about that issue. They and I felt disempowered. I was in a position, in a sense, to take decisions on their behalf, but they had no direct link to me. Their only electoral link was to a handful of Northern Ireland MPs, not to their own Assembly. I believe that the people of Northern Ireland now have the opportunity to gain a more direct electoral influence. As other hon. Members have said, that is extremely important. Another contentious issue is the payment of the 108 Assembly Members. I heard the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) explain his interpretation of the Secretary of State’s comments as insulting to some of those Members. Many of them are carrying out good work and genuinely representing the interests of their constituents as they stand. However, the people of Northern Ireland voted for their Assembly Members to do a job for them on the Assembly itself and to represent their interests on the Assembly. While hon. Members in the House and in other regional assemblies have a responsibility to provide support and casework, it is usually because we have a link with the body to which we have been elected. How this matter plays with the public in Northern Ireland is important, as 108 Members are being paid without any Assembly sitting. Wherever the fault may lie, that is the reality. The public’s patience will wear thin if the problem is not resolved. They voted for an Assembly, not a phantom. I tremble at the thought of this attempt to restore Executive power not working. We would then perhaps face the possibly of local government taking on more power, and I have had some interesting discussions with Members on a cross-party basis about what that could mean. Many of the quangos that are run effectively from Westminster and the Northern Ireland Office would continue and, of course, the hand of the Northern Ireland Office would still continue to run the services. I have no particular issue with my colleagues in the Northern Ireland Office. I see the Minister looking around nervously at me, but I hope that he would agree that it is not right that he should be making such decisions and that they should be made by the people of Northern Ireland. Like the hon. Member for South Staffordshire and my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies), I was heartened by the comments made by the right hon. Member for North Antrim (Rev. Ian Paisley). I felt that that was a momentous speech, and hon. Members will look back on this day and be privileged that we were here to hear it in person. He talked about having no deadline and the people of Northern Ireland deciding. I ask him and others who have this power in their hands to go into the Assembly and set up the Executive, and then the power will be in the control of the people of Northern Ireland and the parties that have those interests. In many respects, I hope that this will be one of the last times in the House that hon. Members debate Northern Ireland issues and Executive decision making over the people of Northern Ireland and that, very shortly, those decisions will be made in Parliament Buildings, by the directly elected representatives of the Northern Ireland people.