Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

moved Amendment No. 5: 5: Clause 14, page 13, line 6, at end insert— ““(7) This section shall also apply to any investigation by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.”””” The noble Lord said: My Lords, we considered this amendment in Grand Committee. I shall briefly explain the reason for it. It relates to Clause 14, which provides for inquiries to be conducted by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and for procedures to regulate the way in which those inquiries have access to material that affects national security. A procedure is established that involves a tribunal established under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which was passed several years ago. I make no comment about the nature of that procedure but it seems to me a sensible and balanced one, which gives the Human Rights Commission the opportunity to seek to get the material and the tribunal the authority to judge whether it is in the national interest, or contrary to it, for it to be revealed. It seems a sensible provision to protect national security. I am not quarrelling with that; but if that procedure is thought appropriate for investigations by the Human Rights Commission, why is it not considered appropriate for investigations by other bodies? I am thinking here particularly of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, but if there were other relevant bodies I would include them on the list as well. It seemed to me in reading this that we have a sensible procedure to protect national security with regard to these inquiries, and surely it ought to apply to other inquiries. If the Government consider it appropriate to protect national security in this context, why is it not considered appropriate to protect national security in an analogous area? That is the question that I put in Committee. The Minister very kindly undertook to bring the matter to the attention of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, so that I could have an answer to the question that I posed. I look forward to now getting that answer. I beg to move.