2 The Committee's activities in relation
to the 'core tasks'
10. In 2002, a list of ten 'core tasks' for
departmental select committees was drawn up by the Liaison Committee
as an aid by which select committees might manage their work in
scrutinising the expenditure, administration and policy of the
office to which they relate. As the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
scrutinises the Northern Ireland Office, which has had a reduced
remit since the Northern Ireland Act 1998, these ten 'core tasks'
do not fit exactly with the remit of the Northern Ireland Affairs
Committee. However, we report below on how our activities during
the 2008-09 parliamentary Session related to these core tasks.
To consider major policy initiatives
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
11. On 1 April 2009 we held a public evidence
session with the Secretary of State, Rt Hon Shaun Woodward MP,
the first of two during the Session, and with senior officials
from the Northern Ireland Office, during which we questioned the
Northern Ireland Office on recent political developments in Northern
Ireland and the work of the Northern Ireland Office with respect
to these developments. Committee members were also active in debates
in the House, asking Parliamentary Questions on Northern Ireland
and issues affecting Northern Ireland. We also sought written
evidence on a number of issues from the Secretary of State and
the Minister of State, Paul Goggins MP, from whom we also received
oral evidence on cross-border co-operation.
CROSS-BORDER CO-OPERATION BETWEEN
THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
12. We launched our inquiry in July 2008, focusing
on cross-border co-operation between the agencies responsible
for law enforcement and criminal justice in Northern Ireland and
the Republic of Ireland. We examined policing and co-operation,
both formal and informal, criminal justice and co-operation, and
areas for closer co-operation, including sex offenders and public
safety. In accordance with these lines of inquiry, we took oral
evidence from Paul Goggins MP, Minister of State and Peter May,
Director of Policing and Security, from the Northern Ireland Office.
Evidence was also taken from representatives of the Northern Ireland
Prison Service, Serious Organised Crime Agency, NSPCC Northern
Ireland, Probation Board for Northern Ireland and Police Ombudsman
for Northern Ireland
13. As part of our visit to Dublin in January
2009, we held discussions with officials of An Garda Síochána,
the Irish Revenue Commissioners, the Oireachtas Justice Committee
and Diageo as well as the British Ambassador to Ireland, Mr David
Reddaway, the Irish Minister for Justice, Mr Dermot Ahern and
the Irish Foreign Minister, Mr Michéal Martin.
14. During this inquiry we saw first hand the
courage shown by those who have lost loved ones to terrorism,
and those who continue to fight terrorism on a daily basis. Northern
Ireland is unique in being the only part of the United Kingdom
that shares a land border with another country. The work of the
PSNI in patrolling this border was shown to us in considerable
detail during our tour of the border area of South Armagh, and
our recommendations reflected the specific need for funding and
co-operation to ensure the safety and security of the people of
both the UK and the Republic of Ireland. We looked not only at
the operation to fight crime, but also the punishments for such
crimes, and the penal system. The Committee's Report was published
on 18 June 2009. The Committee concluded the following:
- We recommended that the two
Governments explore every avenue towards establishing an information-sharing
regime that acts as an effective register of sex offenders across
the island of Ireland. (Paragraph 99)
- We noted that the PSNI's budget was considerably
greater per officer than that of any other United Kingdom police
service, and there are regular calls for it to be reduced. We
urged the Government to ensure that the service remains fully
funded to cope with the unique challenges facing the PSNI. (Paragraph
24)
- We noted a clear perception amongst law-enforcement
agents on both sides of the border that criminals are not being
adequately punished for their crimes. We recommend that the NIO
press the Government to review sentencing guidelines relating
to the serious organised crimes that have blighted Northern Ireland
society for decades. (Paragraph 77)
- We recommended that reciprocal legislation allowing
some offences committed in the UK to be tried in the Republic
of Ireland and vice versa should be extended and modernised to
cover offences that have emerged since the original legislation
was drafted in response to the Troubles in the mid-1970s. Such
offences could include rape and electronic crimes, such as fraud.
(Paragraph 91)
15. The Government's response, published on 19
October 2009, was mainly positive, welcoming many of our recommendations.
In particular:
- The Government argued that
the memoranda of understanding in place between the authorities
in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to facilitate
exchange of information on sex offenders "in effect establishes
information-sharing that acts as an effective register of sex
offenders across the island of Ireland". This explicit statement
of the present position met our recommendation.
- The Government was considering our recommendation
that offences covered under reciprocal criminal jurisdiction legislation
in the UK and the Republic of Ireland should be extended. We
expect to seek an update in the new year on progress towards the
identification and incorporation of new offences under this legislation.
- The Government noted that An Garda Síochána
would fund deployment of Barracuda radios within the Republic
of Ireland, meeting our concern that the PSNI alone was carrying
the cost.
- The response did not, however, address our Report's
points about perceptions that organised criminals are not receiving
sufficient sentences for their crimes. It noted instead merely
that sentencing is a matter for judges.
We shall continue to monitor the situation and
will refer back to those matters during our forthcoming visits
to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON THE PAST
16. On 28 January 2009, the Consultative Group
on the Past, an independent group, published its report, commissioned
to consider how best Northern Ireland could deal with the legacy
of the past. Understandably, publication resulted in controversy
and debate, and perhaps to a greater degree than had been anticipated.
We undertook an inquiry into the findings of the report and
held evidence sessions with the Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland as well as representatives from the Northern Ireland Office,
the Commission for Victims and Survivors, the Northern Ireland
Retired Police Officers' Association, and Lord Eames and Mr Denis
Bradley, Co-Chairmen of the Consultative Group on the Past. We
expect to publish our own Report early in 2010.
A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR NORTHERN IRELAND
17. We are currently inquiring into progress
towards a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. Oral evidence sessions
have been held with Commissioners from the Northern Ireland Human
Rights Commission and with Lady Trimble, a Commissioner who dissented
from the advice the Commission has given to the Secretary of State
for Northern Ireland on the matter. We have also heard from representatives
of Amnesty International, the Children's Law Centre, Save the
Children, and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Consortium. We
met informally the Chairman of the Republic of Ireland's Human
Rights Commission, Dr Maurice Manning, in Dublin in January 2009.
Our Report is due to be published in 2010.
TELEVISION BROADCASTING IN NORTHERN
IRELAND
18. In March 2009 we launched an inquiry into
television broadcasting in Northern Ireland, looking specifically
at the role of public service TV broadcasting, the challenges
of digital switchover, the importance of local programming on
news and current affairs, and the place of broadcasting in a
devolved nation. During our visit to Belfast in October 2009,
we held oral evidence sessions with representatives from BBC Northern
Ireland, UTV, Channel 4, Ofcom, the National Union of Journalists
and the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television. We have
since seen the Minister for Creative Industries, Siôn Simon
MP, and will hold at least one further session in 2009-10. We
expect to report shortly.
OMAGH: 10 YEARS ON
19. We have also inquired into circumstances
surrounding the Omagh bombing, the worst single atrocity committed
in Northern Ireland during the period known as the Troubles.
The inquiry has presented us with difficult questions, most notably
about whether certain actions could, if taken at the time, have
resulted in the prosecution and conviction of those responsible.
It is important to state that responsibility for the deaths of
29 people on August 15 1998—one of whom was pregnant with
twins—rests with those among the membership of the Real
IRA who planned and committed the crime, and with them alone.
During our inquiry, we have travelled to Belfast to meet representatives
of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group. We had the opportunity
to speak to families and friends of those killed and injured,
and we pay tribute to their strength and bravery. In London, we
heard evidence from John Ware, whose Panorama documentary instigated
an inquiry by the Intelligence and Security Commissioner, Sir
Peter Gibson. We heard, too, from Mr Jason McCue solicitor for
the Omagh families support group, from Baroness O'Loan, the former
Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, and from former members
of the Omagh bomb investigation team for both the Royal Ulster
Constabulary and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
20. In spite of the Government's stated policy
of being "as open and helpful as possible with Select Committees"[3],
the Committee has been refused access to Sir Peter Gibson's full,
classified report, even under supervision. We note our continued
disappointment at the repeated refusal to allow our Chairman to
see this document on our behalf, and we continue to press the
Government to reconsider that decision.
THE SAVILLE INQUIRY INTO BLOODY SUNDAY
21. We last year noted our disappointment at
repeated delays in the publication of the final report into the
events of Bloody Sunday—30 January 1972. We had hoped that
the report would be published in late 2009, but Lord Saville,
the tribunal's chairman, has announced that this will not be the
case. The most recent delay, thought to be owing to technical
difficulties, pushes the date of publication back to the week
beginning 22 March 2010. We again express our frustration that
the inquiry, now in its 11th year, has had such repeated
delay. Lord Saville has twice been invited to meet us to explain
the reason for the continued delay, which continues to cost the
taxpayer vast sums of money. He has twice declined. To date, the
report has cost almost £200 million.
To conduct scrutiny of draft bills
22. The Northern Ireland Office published no
draft bills in 2008-09, and once again no Bills relating exclusively
to Northern Ireland were introduced.
23. The NIO did, however, publish a Command Paper
shortly before the House rose for Christmas recess 2008, providing
post-legislative scrutiny of the Electoral Registration Act of
2005. This was the first such paper produced by any department
following a recommendation by the House last year that Government
should provide such updates three to five years after Acts are
made. The NIO, having led the way, then published a second paper,
covering four Orders in Council made during the period of the
Northern Ireland Assembly's suspension from 2002. Having considered
both papers, we considered that no further action was necessary,
but commend the NIO on acting more swiftly than other governmental
departments in providing to Parliament these useful updates on
what legislation has achieved and whether it has done what it
was meant to do.
To examine and report on main
Estimates, annual expenditure plans and annual resource accounts
24. The Committee has received memoranda on the
NIO's Autumn Performance Report 2008 and winter, spring and autumn
estimates. We have also requested written evidence from the NIO
on its Annual Report 2009. These are included as annexes to this
Report.
Follow-up of previous recommendations
ORGANISED CRIME
25. We have requested information from the National
Audit Office and the Northern Ireland Audit Office on Organised
Crime in Northern Ireland, as a follow-up to the Organised Crime
report of 2006. We expect to consider this early in the new session.
26. The Committee has a continuing interest in
policing and justice, as evidenced by our Report Policing and
Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland: the Cost of Policing the
Past, published on 7 July 2009, and our interest in the planned
devolution of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland
Assembly. As part of our visit to Belfast in October 2009 we
visited the Forensic Service Northern Ireland, Police Training
College Belfast, Northern Ireland Retired Police Officers Association
and Police Retraining and Rehabilitation Trust. These sessions
proved invaluable in allowing us to learn more about the work
done there. We also held a valedictory oral evidence session with
Sir Hugh Orde in July 2009, shortly before his retirement, focusing
on the achievements over the last seven years, and the challenges
still facing Northern Ireland, and we expect soon to meet his
successor.
3 Osmotherly rules paragraph 68 Back
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