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Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

I support my noble and learned friend Lord Mayhew. I am delighted that he, with his expertise, is here to support and advise us. It goes without saying that these Benches are of the same opinion as he. We have concerns about the Director of Public Prosecutions being the decision maker in this process. In the other place my honourable friend made a different proposal—that it should be the Lord Chief Justice. That was not accepted and ultimately withdrawn. However, we are now in a sort of quandary. I seem to remember—I am not sure; perhaps the Attorney-General will be able to enlighten me—that, a year or so back, we passed legislation defining who would ultimately be Attorney-General for Northern Ireland and how he or she would be appointed. I know that the Attorney-General is carrying out that role but, once we have devolution, the legislation will quickly change that. A description from the Attorney-General about the sort of person and the sort of role he will be playing would be helpful in this debate. From memory, I believe that he will not be a Member of Parliament either in Stormont or here, and he may not be a member of a political party. So if the Attorney-General for Northern Ireland will be making these decisions, we will need a little more clarity on those points. Secondly, my party would like to feel that we will be able one day to carry out the due processes of law in Northern Ireland without having to resort to trials without jury. We accept the current need for trials without jury; we simply hope that the day they can be dispensed with is not too far off.