Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

I am saying that where the police and Army are operating together on the ground, the Army personnel need the same powers—to stop, search and arrest people and perhaps to search premises—as the police. The investigatory powers of the Army are governed by the Army’s own strictures and that is how it should be. Given how the police ombudsman’s office has abused its powers in relation to the police, I would certainly not want its powers extended to investigating the Army. I believe that the powers given to the Army in the Bill are essential. On the rare occasions when the Army is called in to help the police, it is essential that it has those powers. My last point is about the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. Here is a body that is totally unproved. I was trying to think of any high-profile cases in which it has been involved during its current life. I gain the impression from speaking to people in Northern Ireland that if they are aware of the NIHRC at all, they are aware only of the infighting that occurred when half the people who served on it dropped out half way along and refused even to go to the meetings. The chief executive or chairman of the NIHRC—whatever he is called—left or was put out because of the way in which the commission operated. The NIHRC sought a role for itself, of course, mostly by overstepping the mark and involving itself in things for which it had no remit. As my right hon. Friend the Member for North Antrim pointed out, it condemned the Iraqi war as illegal. Whether it is illegal or not, I do not think that it is a matter for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. Some of us may have views on that issue, but it is certainly not the proper role of the commission to investigate it.