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1.42 am
Mr. Thompson: We are near the end of a long debate on the Bill. Anyone who has read the Bill and listened to all that has been said must realise that while Ministers have not criticised the Orange Institution or the Loyal Orders, the implication can be only that the Bill is designed to act against them.
When we read the guidance notes, the code of practice and all the rules and regulations, we find that in the main they are directed at the Loyal Orders and the Protestant community in Northern Ireland.
At the last minute, to seek to appease us, the Government threw in notification of those who wish to protest against parades. The responsibilities that they will have will be far fewer than those that have been placed on those who wish to hold parades.
The Bill will produce more bureaucracy, more objections and more trouble for those who wish to hold parades, who will have to notify others that they wish to exercise their rights. Indeed, we have been told tonight about the plans that are going ahead in certain quarters to produce more protests in Northern Ireland. There is no doubt that, as time goes on, that will happen.
The Government must recognise that the Bill does not have the support of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland, or of the elected representatives from Northern Ireland, yet they have chosen to ignore our arguments. The Government are determined to drive on in their own sweet way, irrespective of what the majority think. That is a negation of democracy.
As my hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr. Ross) said, we who represent the majority in Northern Ireland are tired of being treated as second-class citizens in Northern Ireland. Everywhere else in the United Kingdom, elections can be held and the majority get their way and are entitled to rule. In Northern Ireland,
however, we are second-class citizens. We can have elections and win them, but it does not make one bit of difference, because we do not get the results of those elections, and we are not allowed to have our way. That is a derogation from democracy.
The Bill is completely impracticable. Anyone who knows anything about parades in Northern Ireland knows that. The idea that a commission of six people will be able to review all the parade applications in Northern Ireland in order to decide whether there should be a determination against them is nonsense. In May, June and July, they will be overwhelmed with applications. It will be an unacceptable work load for them to meet and to dissect each application, and decide whether a determination is necessary.
Moreover, the Bill will mean that on the day of a parade, the police will have fewer powers than they have now. That will create more problems, as there will be more people out on the streets objecting to loyalist parades.
We cannot accept that an unelected body nominated by the Secretary of State can take decisions on law and order. That body is unacceptable to the elected Members from Northern Ireland. The Orange Institution has said clearly that the Parades Commission is unacceptable to it. We had hoped that the Government would make substantial changes during these debates, and that they would take our views on board more than they have, but they have refused to do so.
Mr. Öpik:
We, too, record with the greatest sadness the violence of the year so far. Lest we forget what we are doing here, let us recall the terrible headlines that remind us that this is no academic debate. It is a stepping stone, I hope, to a more secure present and future. It is tragic to learn that, even as we have been discussing what we hope is a path towards peace tonight, another life has been taken in Northern Ireland. Our thoughts must go to the family and friends of that victim.
Parades are a unique part of Northern Irish life, and it is sometimes hard for people on the mainland and abroad to understand how very important they are. The hon. Member for South Down (Mr. McGrady) referred to give and take. It is sometimes hard--
Mr. Ingram:
I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Gentleman, but I do not believe that another life has been lost in Northern Ireland. According to my information, there has been an incident, but no loss of life. I do not want the hon. Gentleman to misinterpret the remarks of the right hon. Member for Upper Bann (Mr. Trimble).
Mr. Öpik:
I am glad to hear that the incident is not as serious as I thought. Nevertheless, the continuation of violence at any level is greatly regretted when we believe sincerely that a ceasefire and a cessation of violence would be in the best interests of Northern Ireland and the future of the United Kingdom as a whole.
It is difficult for people to identify any way forward when there appears to be such intransigence--such a big barrier--dividing the communities in Northern Ireland. Some actions may appear to be symbolic, but that symbolism is very important and can lead to real, practical changes that impact directly on other processes that we desperately hope will produce a lasting settlement. We should remember that only a tiny minority of parades that are held every year in Northern Ireland involve flashpoints and incidents. However, those flashpoints justify this legislation.
Tonight's debate has revealed the intricacies of the issue. The Liberal Democrats are not 100 per cent. satisfied with the final outcome, but we believe that the legislation is a big and important step forward. It establishes a strategy and gives the commission a clear mandate on how to proceed. I do not envy those in Northern Ireland who must perform what must be regarded as one of the most difficult functions in the Province. I believe that mediation will be one of the most testing aspects of the commission's work, and precedent and experience will clarify that process. It is sometimes difficult for Governments to concede ground, but the Minister withdrew an amendment earlier. I hope that the Government will continue to listen to a variety of opinions about Northern Ireland.
The Bill will not bring peace to Northern Ireland--it is only a small part of the process, and addresses the symptoms of the problem and not the underlying cause. The process is slow. It is now nearly 2 am, and the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr. Ross) said that he would debate the legislation all night if necessary--although we have already been here for much of the night. That says something about the debate and the character of Northern Ireland. There is a passion peculiar to the issue that tends to keep us here. Whatever one may feel about the contributions of other hon. Members, there is no doubt that they are offered sincerely. The progress of these debates has great gravitas, and I am sure that their importance is not lost on a single hon. Member.
Mr. Peter Robinson:
I join the Minister and other hon. Members who have already condemned the outrages of the past few weeks in Northern Ireland. From before Christmas, there have been a number of deaths and serious injuries. The serious injuries have been a daily occurrence in the Province. It is right that each one of us should in the strongest and clearest terms condemn the organisations that carry out the shootings, killings and beatings in the Province, whether they be the Ulster
For the past few weeks, literally dozens of people have had their knees either bashed with hatchets, baseball bats or iron bars, or shot, as part of the rule of law that those terrorists would seek to impose on the areas in which they live. People have been killed in the most brutal circumstances. During the past few weeks, a young man trying to earn money for his young family by taking a taxi round was found in the middle of the road in a pool of blood, having already been struck in the face before he was shot in the head.
Another man out in a digger, working in an area where he was supporting two blind brothers, was shot. Neither of those people had the remotest connection to any terrorist organisation or appears to have any political background whatever. They were innocent people, picked out and shot.
We have to ask ourselves, because it is relevant to the debate, why terrorists carry out such activities. The sad reality is that they are rewarded for doing so. We can all condemn them, but there is no use condemning the acts of terrorists and then rewarding those terrorists thereafter. If Gerry Adams is elevated, it is in effect saying to those whom Gerry Adams sent out to kill--yes, himself, sent out to kill--that we are forgetting the deaths that he caused and the acts that he carried out. Whether it was La Mon or Bloody Friday, he was the man who sent people to carry out those killings. Where is he today? He is sitting around a negotiating table with the Government, having been elevated by the previous Government to a position as if he were a statesman in our Province.
We must not condemn on the one hand and elevate and reward on the other. The Bill is about rewarding terrorism. Let no one think that this is an attempt to resolve problems in Northern Ireland that the Government would have made anyway. This has been promoted by the Provisional IRA. On the boast of Gerry Adams, it attempted to disrupt parades which for decades, in some cases more than l00 years, have passed off peacefully. It spent years doing it and it succeeded in doing it. It did so because it wanted to attack the Protestant and loyalist culture; it wanted to undermine the Unionist tradition. It has effectively succeeded in so far as it has got the Government to set in motion a process that the Government before too long will come to regret.
What have the Government done by this legislation? Have they stopped one parade or counter-demonstration? Have they resolved one dispute between concerned residents and marchers? Not at all. They have set in motion a procedure that complicates, confuses and blurs the issues. They have resolved nothing by this legislation. They have, if anything, made it more difficult to resolve the issues.
The issues can be resolved only through mediation. The Government have deliberately taken the role of mediation away from this body. They have done nothing to contribute towards getting peace and stability in the Province, and before too long I rather suspect that the Minister will have to come back to the matter,
and the Bill will go the way of many other attempts to resolve the issue of parades in Northern Ireland--into the trashcan.
Question put, That the Bill be now read the Third time:--
The House divided: Ayes 121, Noes 9.
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