Speeches by Hanna.

“Lá Fhéile Pádraig shona daoibh agus Seachtain na Gaeilge daoibh. Deis lenár dteanga agus ár gcultúr a cheiliúradh ar fud an domhain. Happy St Patrick’s day, everybody, and happy Irish Language Week. It is an opportunity to use Irish language and celebrate Irish culture across the world. It is an increasingly turbulent …”

“I thank the right hon. Member for giving way; I know his time is precious. I want to associate myself with the remarks he made about Members of this House who were lost and about the moving visit we had last week with victims in Belfast and Fermanagh in relation to people who were murdered by perpetrators from various …”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend and his colleagues on advancing the Bill—eight months into their mandate, we are at the remaining stages. In Northern Ireland, 13 months after restoration, the proposed NI “good jobs” Bill has not even been introduced, and doubt is growing as to whether it will pass in this mandate. Once a…”

“Can the enhanced inquisitorial process get the same level of information and accountability as the previous inquest system could?”

“Alyson, can I start with you? In your evidence, you say that reinstating inquests could and should have been done by remedial order. Why was that not done? What would be the most appropriate way to address that now?”

“We will come back to some of the disclosure, the vetoes and the upstream addressing of those. Daniel, you are indicating the same, I think.”

“It was basically what core things we need to know about disclosure and what mechanisms were in Stormont House.”

“After all these years, people are bewildered that we are still talking about transitioning paramilitary groups, which have continued to recruit, to grip and to poison communities and current-day politics in Northern Ireland. Will the Minister commit to ensuring that we learn from all the things that have not gone right…”

“Q15. People in Northern Ireland are sick to the teeth of paramilitaries, the menace of sectarianism and keeping people stuck in the past. In the light of the announcement yesterday on transition, does the Prime Minister recognise that people will be highly sceptical of the process? There must be real learnings from the…”

“The core thing that is running through everything we are discussing today is the suppression of information. There is all this complicated architecture and all these different legal processes, but they exist because the people who made victims, state and non-state actors, are suppressing the information. Alyson, you ex…”

“Anna, none of the elements can work independently and we need to get a complete picture. Based on the work of the model Bill team and the previous analysis, are there any amendments that could make a process like that fit for purpose? Additionally, there is obviously the narrative that more inquests and more exploratio…”

“Throughout the troubles, both state and non-state actors committed unlawful killings that have created harm and scarred families across both our islands. Does the Secretary of State agree that his Government, working with the Northern Irish parties, must find and build bodies that honour the Stormont House obligations …”

“Finally from me, because I am aware of the time pressure, you obviously won your judicial review against the seizing and raiding of your data. What is the status of that data at the moment? Has it been vindicated, or does it still exist within the PSNI?”

“You have touched on this, but do you feel there is enough accountability and oversight for other police? We have the Policing Board, imperfect though it may be; is there enough of an accountability mechanism for some of the other forces involved in this?”

“I note from your comments that you have some confidence in Jon Boutcher’s fresh approach and some of the processes that have still to run. Obviously, the Policing Board was a big part of the new beginning to policing and the change that needed to be created. How would you assess that? Have they been robust enough in th…”

“Thank you all for your evidence. I know that people will find a lot of this alarming, but it is important to resolve it for the culture of lawfulness and trust that we are trying to create. A lot of what this Committee will be doing within this mandate is looking at issues relating to the suppression of information abo…”

“It is the best disinfectant.”

“But of course it is. In many cases, there is a complete inequality of arms, in that the costs can tick up, as they did for somebody like Malachi. In that case, imperfect though it was, there was at least a two-sided legal process, where he would have had—if he had unlimited financial means—the opportunity to go in and,…”

“Time is not in our favour, and other colleagues want to come in, including on the existing legal framework. We are not necessarily in disagreement on AI, but I don’t think time allows.”

“The danger is, having—I believe—identified substantial gaps and flaws in our legislative framework for defamation and SLAPPs in Northern Ireland, we could eat up all our time on AI, which is outwith the remit of this Committee.”