Terrorism (Northern Ireland) Bill

I listened with interest to the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr. Campbell) and I agree with the intention of the amendments. My concern is that to extend the time scale is in a sense to plan for failure. At a time when the Government rightly seek to normalise the Province, surely it would be better for us to work on the assumption that by 1 August 2008 Northern Irish politics will have achieved some kind of normality. I do not oppose the amendments simply because the DUP voted against new clause 1; I do not hold such grudges. I note that other DUP Members intend to speak, so I would ask them to clarify why they feel that that extra four years is required and how they view the assertion that by extending it to 2012 one is in some sense building into the legislation the assumption that it will take another seven years for us to resolve the problems.