Northern Ireland: Political Developments

Lord Hain Excerpts

Tuesday 28th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dunlop]

The funding of these voluntary bodies and the public services is absolutely at the heart of why we need to make quick progress and why this process cannot go on indefinitely. Measures are in place that allow the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Finance to allocate cash, but political choices need to be made and that is why we require a fully functioning Executive to be in place.

[Lord Hain (Lab)]

My Lords, I support the Secretary of State in avoiding—almost at all costs—direct rule, because it would be a massive and possibly irreversible setback. Equally, I support there being no second election, because everybody agrees that that would solve absolutely nothing. In common with my noble friend Lord Murphy of Torfaen, who is unable to be here this afternoon, I remain puzzled as to why there has been no direct prime ministerial involvement—a point raised by my noble friend Lord McAvoy. The Minister hinted that the times are very different. They may be in one sense but in another they are not. The truth is that at times in the past the Prime Minister’s direct involvement, calling a summit at Hillsborough Castle or wherever it may be together with the Taoiseach, has been crucial in breaking the gridlock and bringing parties together, enabling them to find a solution they were not able to find on their own. I put that again to the Minister. The Prime Minister may be busy on other things such as Brexit but I suggest that there is nothing more important on her agenda than keeping the peace process in Northern Ireland moving forward. If it stalled and in any sense went into reverse, that could be very dangerous.

[Lord Dunlop]

First, I agree with the noble Lord about the importance of maintaining the forward momentum of the peace process. As the Statement says, and as the Secretary of State said in the House of Commons, we do not detect any appetite for a second election—the issues would remain to be resolved and it would merely prolong a period of uncertainty and disruption. On the involvement of the Prime Minister, as I have already said, she is actively involved and engaged, dealing directly with the Taoiseach. She and the Taoiseach have mandated my right honourable friend the Northern Ireland Secretary and the Irish Foreign Minister to take forward supporting and facilitating the discussions with the parties. That will happen over the coming hours and days as we seek a resolution to these issues.