Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

My Lords, as the Minister said at the outset, enormous changes have taken place in Northern Ireland in the past few years. That is reflected in the region’s vibrant economy. I well remember first visiting, 10 or more years ago, with the Police Negotiating Board. To show how much things have changed, we were not to breathe a word about who we were or why we were there. As I recall, we were a group of social workers visiting Belfast for a conference. Of course, we fooled no one, partly because I was one of only two women in the delegation of around 50 men; it was like that in those days, and has not changed enough in that regard since. Progress towards devolution, however, has been remarkable. Discounting the inevitable hiccups along the way, we can now see light glimmering through the darkness of those terrible years. The time has come to place the future of Northern Ireland firmly in the hands of its own elected politicians. No one pretends that this transition will be easy or trouble free, but Northern Ireland’s politicians must find the means of working together. Otherwise, as the Minister has reminded us, they face the unhappy prospect of direct rule, over which they will have little influence, for years. The Bill, in parts, helps to deliver the justice and security measures needed to enable the process of normalisation to continue. While there is much in it that we on these Benches would support, there is also deep concern, especially over the first part of the Bill, dealing with trials on indictment without a jury.My noble friend Lord Lester will be speaking more fully on those matters. We have welcomed the Government’s announcements of the repealing of the temporary provisions of the Terrorism Act 2000 for Northern Ireland, particularly Part VII. That is a great step forward, as is the movement away from the Diplock courts system, as far as it goes. However, I ask the Minister why the DPP alone for Northern Ireland can issue a certificate for a trial on indictment to be conducted without a jury. It would appear that the Director of Public Prosecutions can issue a certificate if he simply ““suspects”” that there is a ““risk”” that the administration of justice ““might”” be impaired. ““Suspects”” is a low level of test, much lower than the test on the balance of probabilities. Jury trial ought to be the norm rather than the exception in Northern Ireland. I see that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, at Second Reading in the other place, appeared to find nothing wrong with a defendant facing a trial without a jury. He said that, "““the DPP’s decision is about the mode of trial, and the defendant will receive at least as fair a trial without a jury as with one, so they will not suffer any detriment””.—[Official Report, Commons, 13/12/06; col. 894.]" I beg to disagree. Even if the so-called juryless trials will not be the norm, we are trying to establish through this Bill that Northern Ireland justice will mirror that of the rest of the United Kingdom. I do not know of anywhere else where these rules prevail. I thought we understood that trial by jury was the norm. In the same debate the SDLP Member, Mark Durkan, stated: "““The Secretary of State says that there are few Diplock courts. There should be none. An outcome should not turn on the opinion of one person, who may have some bias or may misapprehend the facts. In that situation, the accused can quickly become the convicted. Once an injustice has been done, it can be years, or more likely decades, before it is undone. We need only to consider cases such as that of Christy Walsh to understand what can go wrong””.—[Official Report, Commons, 13/12/06; col. 919.]" He made a very powerful point, with which I have much sympathy. There most definitely needs to be some form of judicial involvement in this matter. I hope that, in Committee, we will consider this. Weare particularly concerned about the contents of Clause 7, to which we are completely opposed. To have no provision for appeal against a decision in a trial held without a jury is completely unacceptable. It is a clear attack on a person’s human rights and we will be seeking to remove this. Although it is not particularly relevant now, as changes have been made, something similar came up in the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill in 2004. At the time the Joint Committee on Human Rights issued a damning report on the provision, which stated that the committee regarded the restriction proposed in the Bill, "““as being inherently objectionable as an attack on an important element of the scheme for protecting Convention rights in the United Kingdom””." For me, the provisions of this clause are equally objectionable. Another of our concerns is that the language of the Bill is unhelpful. As in my earlier remarks about ““suspects,”” ““risk”” and ““might,”” so the term ““associate,”” used in Clause 1 (3)(b), and its definition in subsection (10), could mean almost anybody. It is defined as a friend or a relative, but that description is open to wide interpretation and we should find other ways of expressing more clearly what ““associate”” means. Other areas of the Bill test the Government’s commitment to human rights, especially around the culture of unaccountability, which surrounds the security forces in Northern Ireland, especially MI5, whose role appears to be enhanced by this Bill. The Police Service of Northern Ireland, not MI5, should be the primary mover in security matters. Where is the normalcy in that? It may be that I am being naïve on this point; perhaps Dr Reid wants to pilot this role for MI5 in Northern Ireland, prior to introducing it in the rest of the United Kingdom. It would not be the first time that policy changes trailed in Northern Ireland have later been imported into Great Britain. If the PSNI remains the lead agency, as I strongly believe it should, the police ombudsman would continue to be able to look into any complaints and issue a report in the same way she normally does. I have not heard any serious complaints about how she has undertaken her role to date. Indeed, quite the opposite; it would give the people of Northern Ireland an assurance that any complaints they had about justice or security would be dealt with appropriately. On the other hand, who keeps an eye on what MI5 is doing in Northern Ireland? I simply ask the question. We agree with the Government that there is still a case for putting special measures in place to protect the identity of jurors in Northern Ireland. Clauses 13 to 19 provide for the extension of the powers of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, which we welcome. Some time ago, the commission identified a need for it to be able to compel evidence and to enter places of detention, and we are glad that it now has these powers. We will, however, table amendments in Committee to probe how best the provisions can be used most effectively for the benefit of the communities in Northern Ireland. For example, Clause 15 would allow the commission to enter a place of detention only during, and for the purpose of, a formal time-bound investigation, established under Section 69(8) of the 1998 Act. For any other purpose, however serious or urgent, the commission would need to secure the permission of the relevant authorities. Such restrictions could hamper the effectiveness of the commission to carry out its statutory responsibilities. Moreover, although the Government’s amendment to Clause 19 in another place on the timing of the implementation of these new powers is a step in the right direction, the clause could still present an obstacle to the commission in carrying out its functions. Even if the commission is to investigate alleged human rights violations arising only after August 2007, it is extremely likely to require access to evidence or documents existing before that date. The commission recently contributed to the exposure of the ill treatment of children and adults in a mental health institution in Northern Ireland. If the commission decided to conduct an effective investigation, it would be imperative to have access to previous records. It seems likely that, in a number of circumstances, the commission would need to investigate properly all the circumstances surrounding a particular matter if it were to do its job properly. It would need to consider evidence from the past. Surely we want the commission to be as effective as possible in its role. We welcome the changes to the powers of the security forces under Clauses 20 to 41, because these are general public order powers and are not restricted to terrorist offences. Having had the most peaceful marching season last year, when the Army was not deployed at all, as the Minister reminded us at the beginning of the debate, we sincerely hope that these powers will not need to be used in the future. Be that as it may, we would prefer Parliament to be involved in the process of determining whether they will be needed. We shall return to this as well in Committee. Clause 42 and Schedule 5 are new provisions that were added to the Bill on Report in another place. Liberal Democrats and their Liberal forebears have always been a devolutionist party, and were solong before Labour or the Conservatives. Indeed, the latter remain very ambivalent on this principle. Accordingly, we have supported for many years the principle of devolving policing and justice powers to the Assembly. I know that noble Lords on all sides of the House want the Assembly to be restored, and want local politicians from Northern Ireland taking decisions on the matters that affect the day-to-day lives of their people. We all want the Assembly to take responsibility for policing and justice in Northern Ireland. Perhaps Clause 42, which allows the Assembly more flexibility to decide on the exact construct of a department of justice and policing, is the right way to go about it. However, we want to ensure that the details of the proposal are helpful to the Assembly in deciding the best way to construct such a department. I would like reassurance that this is what the Government have in mind. I hope that the Government will leave it entirely to the Assembly to decide on this crucial matter. The Bill’s remaining provisions and in particular Clause 46 relating to the regulation of the private security industry in Northern Ireland are to be warmly welcomed. The Security Industry Authority has been extremely successful in its work in England and Wales and will begin to give the people of Northern Ireland the confidence that only people who have passed the exacting test for a certificate to practise within the security industry will be allowed to do so and that proper monitoring of those provisions will be regularly undertaken. This is a Bill of distinct parts; some good, some bad. I look forward to the Committee stage when we hope that some amendments will be agreed, although perhaps my optimism about changing any of the Government’s legislation is but a pipedream.