Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (Renewal of Temporary Provisions) Order 2010

My Lords, I rise to thank the Leader of the House for introducing this draft order and to express my support, albeit reluctant, for the reasons given so eloquently by the noble Baroness, Lady Blood. There are real issues here of equality and discrimination which are very difficult and have caused enormous problems in the history of Northern Ireland. It is a relief, at least, that what we have been asked to deal with today is simply a temporary measure lasting only one year. I wish to focus on only one point. The noble Baroness the Leader of the House explained that Catholic recruitment to the police service in Northern Ireland is at just under 28 per cent at the moment. I strongly suspect that one further year will take that figure to 30 per cent. The difficulty here is that, for reasons already hinted at by the noble Lords, Lord Glentoran and Lord Kilclooney, there is no iron law of history that says that it must stay at 30 per cent or indeed that it will continue to creep upwards. With the attacks on Catholic police officers, there are pressures at the moment on Catholic membership of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. There are other considerations as well in the broader society of Northern Ireland which suggest that the figure could reach 30 per cent and drop down. I do not expect to be admired by the House for drawing attention to this difficult fact but the seriousness of the debate requires at least acknowledgement of it. Ultimately, it now appears that these issues are going to be the responsibility of the devolved ministries of Northern Ireland which will deal with the devolution of policing and justice. In one way, I am very glad that that is the case, because they are going to be extraordinarily difficult issues to deal with. The noble Baroness gave a figure for those who did not get jobs in the Police Service of Northern Ireland and her suggestion was, entirely correctly, that it is a small percentage which was not appointed because of being of the "wrong" religion. None the less, this whole game is about small percentages. Getting from 28 to 30 per cent is crucial. Dropping back could also be crucial. I simply draw attention to this difficulty. I am grateful that the Government are only proposing this for one year. On a day which is positive for the history of Northern Ireland, I just draw attention to the fact that anybody close to this issue knows that, even if we reach 30 per cent, we have not entered some new nirvana. The difficulties remain and it might well be the responsibility of this House or another House to deal with what we do then. I hope I do not have to face the question if Catholic recruitment starts to slide backwards.