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Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006

My Lords, I wish to reinforce what the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, said about the Minister’s speech and that of the noble Lord, Lord Trimble. The Minister’s speech brought him back on form since our rates order debate. It was interesting because it was comprehensive and acknowledged many noble Lords’ reservations. Had the Government adopted that mode in the other place, they would not have aroused the suspicions that were aroused in parts of your Lordships’ House. I commend him for that change of manner and for the comprehensiveness with which he has attempted to answer many of the reservations. In its own way, this is a mini case study of how representations can be made and how Governments can seek to accommodate them in the various stages of legislation, which I commend to future textbook writers. The noble Lord, Lord Trimble, presented a very cogent case in support of his amendment, although he, too, recognised that much of what the Minister had said allayed some of our worst suspicions. There are some specific issues still, particularly in relation to the GoCo, on precisely the assumptions and built-in elements in the business plan. I endorse the request made by the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, for greater glasnost on that and I will certainly await the Minister’s reply. It is quite impossible for us to be asked to give a free hand, sight unseen to the Government. The noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, has reinforced what I have been saying for a very long time. Northern Ireland legislation is most undemocratic and unparliamentary. The lack of amendability, which I know the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, has acknowledged in the past, makes it extremely difficult for us to nod these things through because we are faced with no opportunity to change the legislation. I follow very much the point by the noble Lord, Lord Trimble, that this issue should be dealt with by representatives of the Assembly rather than imposed by Westminster. If the Government are confident that the devolved institutions will be restored by March, after the lengthy period of failure to address the problems of water supply and sewerage in Northern Ireland, three months is neither here nor there; in legislative time it is petty cash. Like the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, I will wait to hear how the Minister addresses those problems in his winding-up speech. I will not look forward to a number of orders coming forward in the new year, before we know about the restoration of the Assembly and the Executive, if we are always going to have these arguments and be told that the orders have to go through. The Government would be advised to be very parsimonious in the number of orders they bring here before the spring, otherwise they will attract increasing opposition if they use these arguments time and again to push through unamendable Orders in Council. I shall await the Minister’s response before deciding what we will do regarding this amendment.