Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008

My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing forward the statutory instrument tonight and I note the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Morrow. The major part of the statutory instrument is for the protection of children and young people. That is its most important role. A lesser but, for me, an equally important role is, as the Minister said, that it is once again bringing Northern Ireland into line with British law. We have a huge travelling public—young people, middle-aged people and children—going backwards and forwards. To have two different laws in something that is so important to the social lives of travelling young people has to be harmful and unhelpful to those young people. I am not going to take part in the argument about the moral story advanced by the noble Lord, Lord Morrow, and others who think similarly. However, I wonder why Her Majesty’s Government have chosen this time to bring this provision in the statutory instrument into your Lordships’ House and into this Parliament. As the Minister said, we are all hoping that at some stage in the not-too-distant future—although it seems to be getting more distant at the moment—there will be devolution of criminal justice and policing to Northern Ireland. That is when such difficult matters, on which the people of Northern Ireland clearly have strong views that differ from the views of the population of this country, should be widely debated publicly in their Assembly. The Assembly should have been given that opportunity with the part of the instrument referred to in the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Morrow, although not the rest of the order. It is a shame that the Government were arrogant enough, knowing the volume of concern, if not antagonism, in the Province not to have just left it out for another day. If we are all lucky and it all goes as we would like it to go, that other day might not be very far away. However, because I am not happy about that issue and because I took part in the major debate on lowering the age of consent in Great Britain in your Lordships’ House a year or two ago, I do not intend to vote in this debate. I am very sorry that the Government have felt the need to put a serious Whip on this issue tonight.