Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of attacks on Orange Halls on community relations in Northern Ireland.

These incidents are an operational matter for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) who I understand treat them as sectarian hate crimes. As criminal investigations continue, we await their findings.

I utterly condemn these cowardly and pointless attacks on the halls. I would encourage everyone to work with PSNI to help track down the perpetrators. This type of activity undermines the efforts of Northern Ireland's people to establish a peaceful and prosperous society where all communities live together and thrive.

I welcome calls from the Orange Order for calm and echo their appeal for no retaliation as such a response would be wrong and entirely counterproductive.