Justice Bill - Final Stage

 I declare an interest as Chairperson of the Assembly and Executive Review Committee and as a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. I want to make it very clear that I am not speaking as Chairperson of that Committee.

As the deputy First Minister said, the Bill is very short, and it has certainly had its fair share of debate in the House. The deputy First Minister referred, I think, to some 20 hours of debate. He will be pleased to know that I intend to add only two or three minutes to that to say that we, on this side of the House, support the Bill in its passage through Final Stage.

The deputy First Minister referred to the work that has been done on the Bill, including that done by the Assembly and Executive Review Committee. I hope that that Committee made a valuable contribution, particularly through the financial work that it did, and that that was helpful in the discussions that took place. The Committee will report to the House on that work in the not too distant future. I hope that it assisted in getting the financial package that the deputy First Minister referred to and which was laid out and made public in the Prime Minister’s letter.

The Bill is very short but necessary to set up and pave the way for the Department of justice. In the long debates on the many amendments that came before the House, in particular from the SDLP, those amendments were duly debated, given due care by the House and dealt with. We are now beyond that stage, and we, on this side of the House, support the Bill in its Final Stage.

Members will be pleased to know that I do not intend to say anything other than that.