Terrorism (Northern Ireland) Act 2006 (Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2007

I thank noble Lords for their wholly positive approach to the order, reflecting the debate in the other place yesterday. I realise that occasionally we have had debates where the message that I have given was not accepted; today, it has been wholly accepted. I am grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Browne and Lord Maginnis, for making a huge contribution to public life in Northern Ireland as well as to this debate. I am deeply grateful for that. I am grateful also to the noble Lord, Lord Smith. I was asked a couple of specific questions which I shall do my best to answer. The noble Viscount asked how many cases were ongoing. As we speak—the new situation will be triggered at the end of the month, so I do not know how long these cases will last—26 Diplock cases are ongoing, involving 53 defendants. As the figures show, there has been a massive drop in the number of Diplock cases in recent years. There were only 61 in 2006, 49 in 2005 and 65 in 2004, involving some 90, 91 and 77 defendants respectively, which is about par for the course. I do not know how many of those will be ongoing when the new situation is triggered. The Act that replaced the Diplock courts with the powers of the Director of Public Prosecutions provided for the DPP to take the decision for a non-jury trial. We debated the matter at some length. I understand that my noble and learned friend the former Attorney-General dealt with a good deal of it. We explained that we thought that the decision should be with the DPP because it would be based largely on sensitive material. Time will tell whether we have got it right, but I understand that there are no outstanding issues in terms of the legislation. Therefore, we will see how the replacement courts progress. It is true that there are dissident republicans, as the noble Lords, Lord Smith, Lord Maginnis and Lord Browne, said. They are unquestionably isolated in number but nevertheless a threat to the security situation. We believe that the Police Service of Northern Ireland is more than up to coping with the threat. People can always do more. In this case, as I have said on other occasions, I hope that if everyone can come to the table and walk away with a gain, however great or small, it can be seen that that is the way to operate. That is the reason why not only the war is over but the peace is well on the way. There is no question that the economy is booming, although there are substantial changes to make to it. As the noble Lord, Lord Maginnis, said, the police service has to be on the case with organised criminals; we must not allow vacuums to arise in our communities. I wholly agree with him about the speed of implementation of the law but with one caveat: it is now July 2007; noble Lords should think where we were when I was in this Room in July 2005, having just gone to Northern Ireland—that is about four pieces of primary legislation ago and more orders than I care to remember. We were optimistic but mindful of the territory we were in. Therefore, I ask noble Lords to judge the situation. We are now in July; by spring and summer of next year, we will have a better idea. But slow law is bad law, and people will not respect it; the noble Lord is quite right on that. I am sure that the authorities will do everything they can, because it is in their interests to bring about a normal civic society in Northern Ireland—if we call everything in England, Wales and Scotland normal for most of us—where the rules of law are followed. There may be delays, but there will be no undue ones. We have to take that point on board. If I discover that I have missed something, I will write a note.