Safety of Sports Grounds (Northern Ireland) Order 2005

My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing this order to the House. From these Benches we welcome it, although it comes very late to Northern Ireland. Safety is an incredibly important issue and we are very pleased that the Government are bringing Northern Ireland’s sports grounds into the safety certification scheme which exists here. I well remember that legislation being formulated in England and Wales and spending many happy hours at, I think, York City’s ground and at Scarborough’s, making sure that they were going to comply with those certifications. The safety of spectators at sporting events should be of fundamental concern to all of us. We want to be sure that when people get very excited at a sporting event, our safety and that of our children is guaranteed. In that respect, I have a couple of short questions for the Minister. He has already answered one of them and I am grateful to him for that. The question was how many stadiums in Northern Ireland have a capacity for over 5,000 people. I thank him for giving me the figure. The order actually states:"““A safety certificate shall contain such terms and conditions as the council considers necessary or expedient to secure reasonable safety at the sports ground””." I am a little concerned about the word ““reasonable””. Are the Government happy that reasonable is sufficient to ensure proper safety? Is this legislation identical to that in other parts of England and Wales? Look as I might in the order, I could not find a regulatory impact assessment on the financial aspects. Can the noble Lord help by talking a little about the financial side and how this will be incorporated? Otherwise, we support the order.