Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 (Extension of duration of non-jury trial provisions) Order 2009

I thank the Minister for so clearly laying out the details of this statutory instrument and in particular for clarifying the conditions under which the DPP can reasonably expect to license a non-jury trial. My party and I support the order—although, not surprisingly, it is with great regret. I asked the Minister’s officials during the previous debate how many times Diplock courts had been used in recent years, and I should clarify that she gave me the answer just now. The number was higher than I thought. However, it demonstrates to all the truth of what is going on in my home Province. There is still far too much organised crime; there is, as the Minister pointed out, a significant amount of terrorism from dissidents and—to correct her a little—a certain amount still from loyalists in the line of sectarianism and hatred. Unfortunately, it is now directed against immigrants such as Poles, Chinese and Romanians. It takes the form of gangs and organised crime. We saw the same sort of thing conducted on a smaller scale by a bunch of football thugs in Coleraine after the Rangers-Celtic match, when a father of a family—a very good man, a community worker—was murdered quite unnecessarily. I have pressed for some time my colleague in another place, Owen Patterson, to be more critical of the way in which the Province is being led, both by its Secretary of State and the PSNI leadership. The chief constable is leaving; he has been known to be leaving for some considerable time; a replacement has not yet been found. The PSNI replaced its deputy, who left some time ago, before replacing the chief, knowing that the two were going to go together, which was ridiculous. It had a wonderful opportunity to pick the No. 1 and let the No. 1 have influence in who his No. 2 was going to be—but, no, they did not do that, because they knew better, didn’t they? That sort of thing is going in Northern Ireland. It intimidates people and prevents their devolving justice and policing. I would find it very difficult today to vote for devolution of policing and justice—that is a personal issue; where my party stands on it is probably slightly different. As the Minister said, there is also a serious risk of juries being intimidated—in fact, they are being intimidated from time to time—and it is even more difficult to bring witnesses to court, because they, too, are at serious risk of intimidation due to the family structure of the little Province, where everybody knows everybody, criminal gangs operate in particular communities and it is extremely hard to find witnesses to come forward. I met some potential witnesses after the young police constable was killed in Craigavon. I was there the morning after. It is easy to understand that attitude when you stand on the ground, see the sight-lines and know who lives there. If I was in one of those houses near to where that poor young man was killed, I would not be too keen to go into court as a witness and say, "I saw Bloggs; that was him". I am making the Government’s case here, in outlining where I believe there is a need to continue, sad as it is, with what I call the Diplock, or non-jury, courts. What is perhaps more worrying and more interesting is something that I have not actually read, but my noble friend Lord Trimble told me about it. In today’s Irish Times it is reported that the Republic of Ireland, or Ireland as it is now correctly known, is also debating in both Houses of the Dail a proposal to bring in non-jury trials. That is for similar problems to those we have in the north. Much as I would love to see non-jury trials come back to my Province in the next year or two, by the time this order runs out, it depresses me to think that it will not happen. Therefore, I must support the Government’s action in extending the Act.