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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

My Lords, I apologise, but I do not have the precise answer at the moment. I should like to deal with a couple of other points that I missed. I was asked about setting out the conditions for eligibility in the Bill as to how this will work in practice. I do not have the details yet; they willcome to the House in the form of secondary legislation. We need to consult further with the Electoral Commission and the Irish Government. We have been consulting with them to get as far as we have with this legislation, but we do not have all the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed. We have to consult further to determine the conditions for eligibility which need to be fair, effective and enforceable. It is no good having something that looks okay; that would be a sop. The Electoral Commission must be able to enforce the situation and the political parties must understand how these arrangements will operate on the ground. I do not know the details because I was not involved in this when I was a direct rule Minister. It was not part of my day job. I know that discussions have taken place and that we need further discussions. There have been ongoing discussions between government officials and officials from the Government of the Irish Republic. To the best of my knowledge, Ministers have not been involved. Things may have been discussed at the highest level, but those ongoing discussions between officials have been to try to arrive at a solution which will then be put to the Ministers of both Administrations for approval before they come to Parliament.