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Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

Committee stage is an opportunity to consider everything that is said but, to the best of my knowledge, however much criticism there may be of the list, it covers all lawful places of detention in Northern Ireland. Therefore, all places where the commission may wish to investigate are on the list; we have not missed any off, to the best of our knowledge. If there are others that we do not know about, we shall clearly add them. We have done the list in the cause of the commission’s clarity and certainty, so that no one can argue, ““You have no right here””. As we have covered all lawful places of detention, the commission has more powers. We obviously have confidence in the commission, hence the contents of the Bill, but I place on the record that we have no hidden places of detention; that would be unlawful. Therefore, all lawful places of detention are covered on this list to the best of my knowledge. I shall obviously have all this double checked before Report, and ensure that it has further consideration. We did it for clarity. It supports the commission. There cannot be any argument about where its writ runs; its writ runs on all lawful places of detention. Listing them benefits the commission and stops any legal challenge of those who might wish to frustrate its work.