Part of Orders of the Day — Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Bill – in the House of Commons am 4:39 pm ar 20 Mehefin 1991.
Peter Robinson
, Belfast East
4:39,
20 Mehefin 1991
I wish briefly, not so much to make a speech, but to put several questions to which the Minister may respond when he replies.
During an Intervention I told the Minister of my general concern, and that of a large section of the community in Northern Ireland, at the practice of wearing down the security forces with various forms of restrictions, regulations and inquiries about this, that and the other, as though people in the forces had to be scrutinised the most and we should spend the Majority of our time looking at what they were doing. Instead, we should concentrate on those causing death and devastation in Northern Ireland. Perhaps if the House spent as much time thinking of ways and means to take on the terrorists and remove them from our society, we should have less cause to concern ourselves with the tasks that our security forces are asked to do in the most difficult circumstances.
When I consider Clause 59 and the appointment of an independent assessor, I am forced to think of the difficulties faced by the Secretary of State when he is being asked to appoint people to independent posts. During the past weeks, if not months, we have been considering the appointment of an independent chairman. If that has not acquainted the Secretary of State with the difficulties of finding someone who is deemed to be independent by all parties, perhaps nothing will. If he did not have the power that is set out in the Bill to make an appointment, I suspect that no one would be found to take on the task. It would be a long day before the hon. Member for Newry and Armagh (Mr. Mallon), we who represent constituencies in Northern Ireland who sit on the Government side of the Chamber and those who similarly represent Northern Ireland constituencies but who sit on the Opposition Benches agreed on who the independent assessor might be. I have no doubt that we would have to take into consideration the views of both the Government and the Opposition.
Would the matter have to go before the Anglo-Irish conference? Will that body have a say in who the assessor will be? Under the Anglo-Irish Agreement, would the Government of the Irish Republic be entitled to make a proposal? Perhaps the Minister will tell us when he replies.
I suspect that much of what is contained in the Bill is designed for cosmetic purposes. I say that with the deepest regret.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
The Opposition are the political parties in the House of Commons other than the largest or Government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons Chamber. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty's Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of Government. The Opposition often votes against the Government. In a sense the Official Opposition is the "Government in waiting".
