Speeches by Robinson.

“Paul, I am coming back to you, but not on AI—you will respect the nature of the inquiry we are holding today, which is about SLAPPs and what potential recommendations we could make about SLAPPs. I have a couple of simple questions. It is possible to pursue and protect your reputation in Northern Ireland without recours…”

“Just to assure you that if you defame me, I will phone you before I get somebody to write to you.”

“I will close this section off so that we can move on to the legal aspects—some of the legal curtailment or at least the legal protections for us all. Can I ask whether either of you have recommendations or suggestions for measures that the Northern Ireland Executive or this Government in Westminster need to take to pro…”

“Just to put that into context, you are talking about somebody for whom there was probably no one more senior in the IRA at the time.”

“That is extraordinary—I had not realised that that was all provided by your employer. Malachi, I know that the focus has been around female journalists particularly, but you have been a journalist, a writer and a commentator for many years. You have similarly experienced physical abuse and intimidation; I have heard yo…”

“I think Serbia is where some of the servers are based for the Shinnerbots, at least, who do a good job of intimidating others on Twitter. It is good to see you both here this morning. Allison, you mentioned the team set up in the PSNI, which has given you a greater level of access to information and therefore potential…”

“While this session is rightly focused on PSNI, we had to mount a rebellion a number of years ago around the extension of these powers to groups as far-ranging as the Food Standards Agency. To be clear, it is not just the police.”

“I do not want to put words in your mouth, but that suggests that the law as it stands is right, but it was not followed, as opposed to suggesting that there are changes required within the law.”

“I do not mind whether Mr Birney or Mr McCaffrey answers my next question, and we will unpack some of the other issues in the rest of this session. You have referred to correspondence from our colleague Mr Davis to forces throughout the United Kingdom that have been operating. Some of this relates to legislation from 25…”

“I am not saying, by the way, that incidental surveillance is not consequential, but it is not the subject under investigation.”

“The direct application is not relating to the individual who is then contacted by the person being surveilled, but there have been discussions around, for example, within another media outlet in Belfast, 16 of their journalists being subject to surveillance, when, in actual fact, they were probably incidental to the on…”

“Just to be clear on that, there are principles around the surveillance of MPs and so on, but what you are highlighting is the incidental contact. There have been other examples—”

“That then takes us into your relationship with the Northern Ireland Office and your ability to propose or push for, and even whether it is your role to push for, amendments to electoral law. Tell the Committee how that looks. Does the window of two years without elections provide a space of time where you have proposal…”

“As it stands, you will give evidence but you have no concerns.”

“I probably should declare that I am a nominating officer of a party. I think that I was the last person to have been co-opted when there could have been a by-election to Belfast City Council in March 2010. In the next month, six more came in, including Claire Hanna on this Committee, because co-options were then in pla…”

“I thank the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for their sterling support for Northern Ireland over the past few days in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, which is greatly appreciated and demonstrates how well the Union works. On 15 August 1998, the fragile peace in Northern Ireland was shattered w…”

“From this Committee’s perspective, it is useful to know whether there was a distinguishing feature. You have mentioned on a couple of occasions now the Speaker’s conference around the experience for candidates. There has been some political consternation—or maybe not as hard as that, but concern—that, when it is being …”

“Very quickly, I think you said, Vijay, that there were double the number of negative experiences for females over males and then there were other factors that you said contributed further. Was that a UK average? Was that a Northern Ireland experience, or is there a difference between Northern Ireland and other parts of…”

“Just to say, Adam, I personally had to remove people from a polling station in Clarawood two years ago. I was the only person from a party there and the electoral staff could not cope with how they were being overrun by people who were just in for vandalism and pure thuggery. I removed them and the police came 20 minut…”

“That is from either the elector or a station captain to report at the end of the day.”