Criminal Damage (Compensation) (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2009

My Lords, I am again grateful to the Lord President for explaining this order. As she said, it relates to a tightly defined category of community halls, which I understand includes not only halls used by one of the two main communities in Northern Ireland, but facilities used by youth groups and ethnic minorities. The Lord President gave us examples. This order provides an easier route for them to receive compensation in the event of criminal damage. We on these Benches are content that this list is narrowly defined. I agree with the Lord President that the Government should be providing assistance to isolated community halls with limited resources, which have little other recourse in the event of suffering criminal damage. I was given examples of community halls that were burned at night, when it is obviously quite impossible to know how many people took part in the crime. We also accept that it is impractical to widen the scope to sporting and other organisations. Indeed, the Lord President made the point that that could be seen as the Government becoming the insurer of first resort, which must clearly be avoided. I have a certain admiration for the ingenuity with which the rates criterion was invoked. It is a very tidy. We support this measure.