Northern Ireland

My Lords, I do not have any information on the final question raised by the noble Lord that I can usefully give the House. On the legislative timetable, I am told that the Bill is short. As the Statement said, it has only six or seven clauses. However, I believe that the Bill that took us into the Common Market was also a short Bill, so one cannot measure the length of time needed for the passage of a Bill by the number of clauses in it—in my years in both Houses, I have learnt that fact. However, the Bill is a very precisely targeted piece of legislation just to get the Assembly up and running and to give it extra time to see if it can choose a First Minister and a power-sharing executive. If not, there will be a recess—a 12-week period—in which to have another crack at it. In the meantime, there will be a chance to facilitate discussion on a range of issues affecting the people of Northern Ireland, of which Ministers can take account.