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Organised Crime (Northern Ireland)

I thank all who have taken part in this debate, which has been a useful exercise. I am grateful to every hon. Member who spoke, including the Conservative Front-Bench spokesman, my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson), and the Minister. We have had a useful exchange of views and an extremely robust expression of opinion from my hon. Friend, as I shall call him, the Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) who made some valid and telling points, as did my hon. Friend the Member for South-West Norfolk (Mr. Fraser) and the hon. Member for Belfast, North (Mr. Dodds), who had to return to his constituency before the debate came to a close. I admire the way in which the Minister has got to grips with the issues since taking office relatively recently. He and I have a good personal relationship, which I value. He knows that the Select Committee is the creature not of Government, but of Parliament, and that it is our duty to hold him and his colleagues to account. He also knows that there are some differences between us, albeit not on the substance or the necessity of dealing with crime; perhaps we differ slightly in our sense of urgency. I know that in Northern Ireland the consultation process tends to be longer than elsewhere and that that tends to create delay, but it is crucial that there is no further delay on the charities issue, for example. There has already been slippage and an order should have been tabled by today. Indeed, that was promised in writing for today, but it has not happened. We sincerely hope that the Minister’s commitment to produce an order before Christmas will materialise, because that is essential. We shall continue to differ respectfully on the fuel issue. I listened carefully to what the Minister said, but I was not convinced. Where I can willingly join forces with him is in congratulating the Police Service of Northern Ireland on many things, particularly the recent drugs haul to which he referred. I also congratulate the Minister on the recent roadshow initiative. I hope that it works well and that the Select Committee will be able to co-operate with him on future roadshows. If we could bring home to the young people of Northern Ireland the appalling dangers, aside from the criminality, of buying noxious substances, whether to smoke them or to drink them, that would be a significant achievement. I want to finish on a note that concerns us all. The Minister quoted from the IMC’s report and referred to the favourable comments about the Provisional IRA, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating and it must deliver. Time is running out in the Government’s timetable. On 30 January, the Assembly, such as it is at the moment, will be dissolved, an election campaign will begin, and it is proposed to have elections on 7 March. If Sinn Fein is to have credibility as a democratic party, it must have begun to show that it has truly signed up to the concept of the rule of law and that it has truly and absolutely foresworn criminality in all its forms and the ill-gotten gains that criminality has produced. It is not just the Minister’s order on charities that I hope we shall have before Christmas; I hope that we shall also have a signing up by Sinn Fein so that we can enter the new year with all political parties absolutely committed to the rule of law, and utterly and totally committed to supporting the PSNI. Then, perhaps, we can begin 2007 with a month of demonstration of good intent, which would be an excellent backdrop for a cleanly fought election campaign—I hope that that is what we shall have—and the proper restoration of an Assembly and devolved government. It is up to Sinn Fein to listen to what has been said today and to read our report, to which the Minister made kind reference. Then, perhaps, that spirit of togetherness to which my hon. Friend the Member for South-West Norfolk referred will indeed prevail. I thank the Minister again for what he said. I hope that we can work constructively together in the future. Question put and agreed to.