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Northern Ireland

My Lords, I, too, welcome this agreement. It is important to place on record the fact that the agreement was made between two parties and that the other parties had no sight of it until after it was agreed. It is also important to say that it is an agreement to think about agreeing because it is contingent upon the workings of a number of working groups which will be established in the future. It is enormously important that this House recognises the significance of the appointment of a justice Minister in Northern Ireland and the method by which that justice Minister is appointed; it is not the product of effective gerrymandering.