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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

Perhaps I can help the right hon. Gentleman. The pledge of office that all Ministers must affirm in the Assembly before taking up posts already requires a commitment to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means. Amendments made in 2003 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 facilitate the consideration of the Independent Monitoring Commission’s recommendations and provides safeguards where Ministers and parties fail to observe the pledge of office. As I have said, the pledge of office, as currently constituted, provides for adherence to exclusively peaceful and democratic means. As we have already made clear, if the parties want to change the pledge of office and they can agree on a form of words in the context of an agreement on a package of other strand 1 issues, I am certainly willing to take those matters forward.