Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will make an assessment of the potential (a) merits of restoring The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick as an active chivalric order and (b) impact of such a policy on the state of the Union.

The UK Government is not at present considering the restoration of The Order of St Patrick. As constituted, the order does not provide a suitable vehicle for recognition as the requisite statutes have not been updated since the nineteenth century. Nominations for existing honours are open to all citizens within the four nations of the United Kingdom.