Terrorism (Northern Ireland) Bill. Report stage. New Clause debated and negatived. Amendments debated and negatived. Third Reading debate. Agreed to on question and Bill passed.
Terrorism (Northern Ireland) Bill 2005-06.
Debate on bills on Wednesday, 30 November 2005,
in the House of Commons,
led by Shaun Woodward.
The answering
member was Laurence Robertson.
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
440 c289-354 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Terrorism (Northern Ireland) Bill 2005-06. Explanatory notes Bill 52-EN also published.
Tuesday, 11 October 2005
Bills
House of Commons
Tuesday, 11 October 2005
Bills
House of Commons
Proceeding contributions
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c290 (Link to this contribution)
May I develop the theme of costs? Lord Carlile was talking about 10 judges in 2003 and although only...
Speaker | 440 c290 (Link to this contribution)
Order. I have not finished with the hon. Lady. She must understand that there is a distinction betwe...
Show all contributions (141)
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c290 (Link to this contribution)
I beg your pardon, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Lembit Opik | 440 c290 (Link to this contribution)
I was just about to come to that point, because it arose in Committee. My hon. Friend the Member for...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c296 (Link to this contribution)
I absolutely stand by what I said to the hon. Gentleman in Committee. We are asking him to refrain f...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 440 c302-3 (Link to this contribution)
: I will endeavour to address the questions that were raised by the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire ...
Robert N Wareing | 440 c299-300 (Link to this contribution)
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I am one person who missed that vote. The reason was the ir...
Speaker | 440 c300 (Link to this contribution)
I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman was inconvenienced by what happened. I can only offer the immedia...
Speaker | 440 c300 (Link to this contribution)
With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment No. 2, in page 2, line 3 [Clause 1], leave out ...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 440 c304-5 (Link to this contribution)
I thank my hon. Friend for his timely intervention. That is the very point that the House has to fac...
Sammy Wilson | 440 c305 (Link to this contribution)
Does my hon. Friend accept that these acts of street violence and genocide along the interfaces are ...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 440 c303-4 (Link to this contribution)
: I thank hon. Members for their understanding when I intervened on the Secretary of State for North...
Sammy Wilson | 440 c307 (Link to this contribution)
Does my hon. Friend accept that while those organisations are in being and carry out widespread inti...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 440 c305-6 (Link to this contribution)
Thank you for your direction, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I am happy to abide by that instruction.
We do no...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c306-7 (Link to this contribution)
In supporting the amendment tabled in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 440 c305 (Link to this contribution)
I thank my hon. Friend, with whom I wholeheartedly agree. It seems that those who speak for the Gove...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 440 c290-1 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman will recall that during Second Reading of the Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill, t...
Lembit Opik | 440 c290 (Link to this contribution)
Nevertheless, the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt) is valid. We ar...
Lembit Opik | 440 c291 (Link to this contribution)
I thank hon. Friends for their contributions, because as they make them we are covering all the poin...
Laurence Robertson | 440 c291 (Link to this contribution)
We discussed this matter in Committee. The official Opposition have some sympathy with the point mad...
Lembit Opik | 440 c291 (Link to this contribution)
Three in one.
Laurence Robertson | 440 c291 (Link to this contribution)
Indeed.
A further problem could arise: if one judge was a Protestant and the second a Catholic, how...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 440 c291 (Link to this contribution)
From the Alliance party.
Lembit Opik | 440 c291 (Link to this contribution)
Although the Alliance party may require an act of faith, it is not actually a religion.
Laurence Robertson | 440 c291-2 (Link to this contribution)
I cannot possibly respond.
There could be an argument for considering the background of the judges,...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c292-3 (Link to this contribution)
Because, with the respect to the hon. Lady, those matters must be more carefully thought through and...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c294 (Link to this contribution)
I welcome the Minister’s commitment to pre-legislative scrutiny. Why is he prepared to adopt that ap...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c295 (Link to this contribution)
As I have said, the Government fully respect Lord Carlile’s advice. The hon. Gentleman regularly tur...
Lembit Opik | 440 c294-5 (Link to this contribution)
I thank hon. Members for their contributions to the debate. May I start by emphasising the importanc...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c308-9 (Link to this contribution)
I have a great deal of sympathy with many of the points that Democratic Unionist party colleagues ha...
Lembit Opik | 440 c295-6 (Link to this contribution)
No doubt, Lord Carlile will learn how many times he has been cited in our debate and will have his o...
Lembit Opik | 440 c296 (Link to this contribution)
I could be wrong, but I see the look of fear in the Minister’s eyes. He is afraid that he might lose...
Gregory Campbell | 440 c300-1 (Link to this contribution)
I shall not stray from the subject matter, but I wish to emphasise the concern and alarm that is fel...
Lembit Opik | 440 c301-2 (Link to this contribution)
I listened with interest to the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr. Campbell) and I agree with the...
Gregory Campbell | 440 c300 (Link to this contribution)
I beg to move amendment No. 1, in page 1, line 13 [Clause 1], leave out ‘2008’ and insert ‘2012’.
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c304 (Link to this contribution)
: My hon. Friend is right to raise the question of individual action and action by paramilitary orga...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c307-8 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend makes a valid point. All the evidence suggests that, leaving aside dissident republic...
Speaker | 440 c305 (Link to this contribution)
I must remind the hon. Gentleman that he is speaking to a very specific amendment. Although it is of...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c292 (Link to this contribution)
New clause 1 would amend the Terrorism Act 2000 to provide that Diplock courts would in future consi...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c292 (Link to this contribution)
In Committee, the Minister may recall saying that when considering the necessity for a successor to ...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c293 (Link to this contribution)
Leaving aside the merits of three-judge courts for one minute, can the Minister help us on the quest...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c293-4 (Link to this contribution)
If the hon. Gentleman will allow me, I will write to him specifically on that point. Given the analy...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c294 (Link to this contribution)
I fear that I would be craving your indulgence, Mr. Deputy Speaker, if I started to discuss on-the-r...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 440 c294 (Link to this contribution)
The Minister says that he wants to consider costs and implications. What is the time scale in which ...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c294 (Link to this contribution)
I might be able to answer the hon. Gentleman’s question pretty much immediately. Although detailed p...
Lembit Opik | 440 c295 (Link to this contribution)
That is why this is a matter not of principle, but of judgment. The judgment of the Liberal Democrat...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c295 (Link to this contribution)
Obviously, the Government have enormous respect for the work of Lord Carlile. However, when the hon....
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c320 (Link to this contribution)
I am grateful to the Minister for his comments, but I intend to press the amendment to a Division be...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c318 (Link to this contribution)
These amendments would repeal section 108 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This issue was raised and discu...
Speaker | 440 c317 (Link to this contribution)
With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment No. 4, in page 5, line 13 [Schedule], at end in...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c319 (Link to this contribution)
Is not the Minister guilty of adopting a somewhat contradictory approach? In the previous debate, he...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c318 (Link to this contribution)
These amendments seek permanently to repeal section 108 of the Terrorism Act 2000. I entirely unders...
Laurence Robertson | 440 c314 (Link to this contribution)
Does the hon. Gentleman share my concern, as I alluded to the 2007–08 deadline, that because of the ...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c317 (Link to this contribution)
I beg to move amendment No. 3, in page 2, line 28, at end insert—
Gregory Campbell | 440 c314 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that timely intervention, and that is exactly the case. In a previous...
Alasdair McDonnell | 440 c310 (Link to this contribution)
I entirely agree with you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was merely responding to comments made earlier ac...
Speaker | 440 c309-10 (Link to this contribution)
Order. Perhaps I should point out to the hon. Member for Belfast, South (Dr. McDonnell) that, if he ...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c310-1 (Link to this contribution)
This has been a good debate, and it has ranged widely across the Government’s proposals. Observation...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c311 (Link to this contribution)
Why choose 2008?
Gregory Campbell | 440 c309 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman has outlined the progress that he sees Northern Ireland as making, and he has don...
Alasdair McDonnell | 440 c309 (Link to this contribution)
I want to put on record some of comments that I made in Committee. My party believes that the legisl...
Sammy Wilson | 440 c309 (Link to this contribution)
Does the hon. Gentleman accept that there is nothing in the Bill that proposes the removal of watcht...
Alasdair McDonnell | 440 c309 (Link to this contribution)
I refer the hon. Gentleman to my earlier comments about the military observation posts and the parap...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c313-4 (Link to this contribution)
We do give the assurance to people in Northern Ireland that we will safeguard the security situation...
Gregory Campbell | 440 c313 (Link to this contribution)
I hoped that the Minister would indicate in what way the implementation of the amendments standing i...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c313 (Link to this contribution)
Without wishing to be drawn back to the discussion on Diplock courts, which we had in the previous d...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 440 c311-2 (Link to this contribution)
I share the Minister’s optimism but I am a realist. Does the hon. Gentleman accept that some of the ...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c311 (Link to this contribution)
I shall come to that in a moment.
The amendments would undermine the valuable process of scrutiny a...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c312-3 (Link to this contribution)
The Minister says that there are measures to deal with the situation. How do we deal with a situatio...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c312 (Link to this contribution)
Organised crime is a serious threat, and we do not need a report to tell us that. I think that every...
Laurence Robertson | 440 c312 (Link to this contribution)
The Minister is attempting to explain the reason for the 2008 deadline. I shall quote from the last ...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c312 (Link to this contribution)
I recognise that the hon. Gentleman is a realist. Indeed, everyone who has participated in the debat...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c320 (Link to this contribution)
I was just about to come to that subject. The Minister is keen on bringing Lord Carlile into the deb...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c320 (Link to this contribution)
I accept Lord Carlile’s observations and I agree that section 108 lies uncomfortably with normalisat...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c320 (Link to this contribution)
The Minister has referred several times to the people of Omagh and the incidents in 1998—the princip...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c320-1 (Link to this contribution)
I have just explained to the hon. Lady that we have been advised by the police that the provision co...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c320 (Link to this contribution)
Does the hon. Lady accept that in the unlikely event that the amendment were to be accepted, she cou...
Lembit Opik | 440 c326 (Link to this contribution)
I am grateful for the Minister’s reassurance, but I and other hon. Members are on to our fifth Secre...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c324-6 (Link to this contribution)
Let us not be pejorative or trivialise the historic statement made on 28 July. Let us remember that ...
Laurence Robertson | 440 c327-8 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend is right that the situation involves violence of all kinds and criminality on all sid...
Lord Bellingham | 440 c327 (Link to this contribution)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way in his excellent summing up of the Bill’s progress. T...
Laurence Robertson | 440 c326-7 (Link to this contribution)
I begin by returning my thanks to the Minister for the way in which he has dealt with the Bill. I ra...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c326 (Link to this contribution)
Absolutely; there is no question about that. It is important to consider the context. The Secretary ...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c321 (Link to this contribution)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who took the words right out of my mouth. His comments summed up wh...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c324 (Link to this contribution)
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
The purpose of the Bill is simple. It will...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 440 c321 (Link to this contribution)
I have already told the Minister that we are defending a principle.
Lembit Opik | 440 c321 (Link to this contribution)
Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government are trying to pass responsibility for judgments about ...
Peter Robinson | 440 c324 (Link to this contribution)
It might be possible for the Minister to argue, although I would not accept his case, that there hav...
Lembit Opik | 440 c331-2 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely correct. I believe that all Opposition Members publicly—and perhaps...
Speaker | 440 c333 (Link to this contribution)
Order. Would the hon. Gentleman now confine his remarks to the Bill? I can see some relation, and I ...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 440 c332-3 (Link to this contribution)
My party supports the principle as set out in the Bill. We did not divide the House on Second Readin...
Speaker | 440 c334 (Link to this contribution)
Order. I remind the hon. Gentleman that on Third Reading we can discuss only what is in the Bill, no...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 440 c333-4 (Link to this contribution)
I accept your direction, Madam Deputy Speaker. My point is that the need for this legislation relate...
Lembit Opik | 440 c335 (Link to this contribution)
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there will unquestionably be unintended consequences from the leg...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 440 c334-5 (Link to this contribution)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Let me simply make the general point that it would have strengthene...
Speaker | 440 c328 (Link to this contribution)
Order. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will now relate his comments to the Third Reading of the Bill....
Laurence Robertson | 440 c328 (Link to this contribution)
I thought that I was doing so, but I accept your guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker.
I agree with the G...
Lord Bellingham | 440 c337 (Link to this contribution)
I am very grateful, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for those slight strictures, but I do feel passionate about ...
Speaker | 440 c337 (Link to this contribution)
Order. The hon. Gentleman has been here for a while, so he will have heard the previous ruling by Ma...
Lord Bellingham | 440 c336-7 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point.
When I was involved in the Northern Ireland Affairs C...
Lord Bellingham | 440 c335-6 (Link to this contribution)
: It is always a privilege to follow the hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Mr. Donaldson), who speaks wi...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 440 c335 (Link to this contribution)
I assure the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire that, despite all his efforts to lead me astray on this...
Speaker | 440 c335 (Link to this contribution)
That is accepted.
Lembit Opik | 440 c335 (Link to this contribution)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I take full responsibility for leading the hon. Member fo...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 440 c335 (Link to this contribution)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was merely responding to an intervention, but I accept your guida...
Jeffrey M Donaldson | 440 c335 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, and I have to say that, on the same day as the First Reading...
Speaker | 440 c335 (Link to this contribution)
Order. I remind the hon. Gentleman that we are debating a particular Bill.
Lembit Opik | 440 c338 (Link to this contribution)
If that is logical, why does the hon. Gentleman not believe that the single judge in a trial would b...
Gregory Campbell | 440 c343-4 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. Yes, when the Government indicate that pre-legisla...
Lembit Opik | 440 c343 (Link to this contribution)
Does the hon. Gentleman accept that even if there is pre-legislative scrutiny, there is no guarantee...
Speaker | 440 c347 (Link to this contribution)
Order. I know that the hon. Gentleman is conscious that he is straying a little. I think that he sai...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c344-7 (Link to this contribution)
It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr. Campbell), and I join...
Lord Bellingham | 440 c338 (Link to this contribution)
In some ways, that is a fair point, but I do not want to get into a long debate about it as I see th...
Gregory Campbell | 440 c342-3 (Link to this contribution)
I join in thanking the Minister for the way in which the debate has been conducted, even if at times...
Peter Robinson | 440 c340-2 (Link to this contribution)
I intend to touch on only one key aspect of the Bill. First, however, I say that I hope that the Min...
Speaker | 440 c337 (Link to this contribution)
Order. I understand the feelings and emotions involved in such debates, but I am afraid that there c...
Lord Bellingham | 440 c337-8 (Link to this contribution)
I obviously accept that wrap across the knuckles, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and I shall now move on to the...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c347 (Link to this contribution)
The point has been made and the Under-Secretary will note what I have said. In his response, I hope ...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 440 c349-50 (Link to this contribution)
Terrorism is terrorism is terrorism. There can be no justification for seeing someone now as a good ...
David Simpson | 440 c350-1 (Link to this contribution)
I have listened to many points raised today by my hon. Friends. I think that I can safely say that n...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c351-2 (Link to this contribution)
By leave of the House, Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to respond to a number of points during what I thin...
Lembit Opik | 440 c352 (Link to this contribution)
Does that mean that any breach of legal behaviour or any indication of organised crime would constit...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c352 (Link to this contribution)
Zero tolerance means zero tolerance, but as the hon. Gentleman would acknowledge, if we want to make...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 440 c347-8 (Link to this contribution)
I join my hon. Friends and other hon. Members in commending the Minister for the gracious manner in ...
Lembit Opik | 440 c348 (Link to this contribution)
While I certainly took full responsibility for attempting to lead the hon. Member for Lagan Valley (...
Lembit Opik | 440 c352-3 (Link to this contribution)
I am slightly confused. The Minister says that the Government intend to enforce zero tolerance of cr...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c353-4 (Link to this contribution)
I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman is confused, but I disagree with him entirely. The Secretary of S...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c352 (Link to this contribution)
I will give way in a few moments.
We do not believe that being optimistic, which is based on eviden...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c289-90 (Link to this contribution)
In the scenario that the hon. Gentleman envisions, with three judges sitting, would decisions have t...
Gregory Campbell | 440 c314 (Link to this contribution)
The Minister answers one side of the argument, but not the other. What would be negative or nugatory...
Michael Fabricant | 440 c336 (Link to this contribution)
Is my hon. Friend aware that many of the people who wanted the Army observation post taken down, par...
Shaun Woodward | 440 c319-20 (Link to this contribution)
Absolutely not. Despite the sedentary intervention from the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire—and I th...
Laurence Robertson | 440 c310 (Link to this contribution)
We discussed this matter in Committee; it was probably the longest discussion that we had. Indeed, I...
Lord Bellingham | 440 c331 (Link to this contribution)
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Government said that there was a huge urgency about the on-th...
Sammy Wilson | 440 c338-40 (Link to this contribution)
: I wish to continue where my hon. Friend the Member for Lagan Valley (Mr. Donaldson) left off. In l...
Lord Bellingham | 440 c349 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend speaks with a huge amount of understanding on these issues. Does he agree with me tha...
Lembit Opik | 440 c289 (Link to this contribution)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
I congratulate the Government on their sensib...
Lembit Opik | 440 c328-31 (Link to this contribution)
First, I want to thank right hon. and hon. Members for their continuing kindness and support, and th...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 440 c348-9 (Link to this contribution)
The first stage of repentance is acknowledgement. It is a step in the right direction if someone at ...
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