Orders of the Day — Northern Ireland Constitution (Amendment) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 13 Rhagfyr 1973.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Mr Lawrence Orr Mr Lawrence Orr , South Down 12:00, 13 Rhagfyr 1973

The hon. Gentleman misses the point completely. In the 1920 Act we were dealing with the United Kingdom. We were embarking upon two sets of devolution, one to the North and one to the South. This Parliament was sovereign. It enacted. It did not have to go to any foreign State. The Council of Ireland did not come into being because the devolution provisions for the South of Ireland never came to fruition. The Irish Free State was set up and, ultimately, the Irish Republic. Today the situation is different. By their own choice the people of the South of Ireland have become an independent sovereign State. But this House cannot legislate for a constitution for part of the United Kingdom without the consent of that foreign Power. That is the situation.

I turn my attention to what was done in Sunningdale and what had to be agreed. In fact, very little was actually agreed. A great many studies have to be made.

Much has been made of what is called the recognition by the Government of the Republic that the constitution of Northern Ireland shall not be altered without the consent of the people of Northern Ireland and that they will register it. There is nothing new in that. The Treaty of 1926, ratified by all three Parliaments, was deposited with the League of Nations as an instrument. There is nothing new. There is no undertaking in the Sunningdale agreement by the Irish Republic and Government that they will recommend a change in their constitution. They have said that, without a referendum, their constitution prevents them removing the obnoxious clauses. But they have not said that they will recommend such a change or promise that such a referendum will take place. There is nothing about recognition.

Then I look at the position of the police with regard to terrorism. There is nothing whatever about extradition. I agree that very difficult and important legal questions are involved. But there is no undertaking by the Republican Government that they will work towards an extradition treaty or find some method of extradition so that people who commit violent crimes, who murder, destroy, maim and wound and who go for refuge to the Republic will be returned to justice. There is nothing like that in the Sunningdale agreement.

A great edifice has been built with a council of 14 Ministers. It is an embryo Parliament of 60 members who will be paid allowances. There is a secretariat with a Secretary-General. The hon. Member for Leeds, South put his finger on what is involved. He said that he hoped that this man would be not simply an administrative Secretary-General, but someone of considerable stature. He was no doubt thinking of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and a position on those lines. In other words, he sees this council developing into something quite sizeable and important.

But it has become plain to people who were Unionists in Northern Ireland—