§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office (Lord Dubs) rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 28th June be approved [24th Report from the Joint Committee].
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, the order before us today is entirely of a technical nature. As I announced in your Lordships' House yesterday, the Government will be taking steps, with the Irish Government, to institute a formal review of the implementation of the Good Friday agreement. We nonetheless consider that before we embark on the review we should be in a position whereby all of the Good Friday agreement is capable of being implemented in full. This means ensuring that all the institutions are able to fulfil the functions for which they were established. The order is necessary to ensure that the north/south implementation bodies, an important aspect of the Good Friday agreement, are able to operate in the manner agreed by the political leaders north and south and endorsed by the Assembly and the Dail.
§ The Implementation Bodies Agreement between the Government and the Irish Government, signed in Dublin on 8th March 1999, provided for the establishment of north/south implementation bodies as proposed under Strand II of the Good Friday agreement. The North/South Co-operation (Implementation Bodies) (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, which gives effect in domestic law to that agreement, was approved by your Lordships' House on 9th March and subsequently made on 10th March 1999.
§ The agreement provided for the establishment of six bodies, including an implementation body for special EU programmes. It is to have a number of functions in relation to the structural funds' community initiative programmes which benefit Northern Ireland, including the new round of community initiatives post-1999. As detailed in the agreement, it was expected that any successor to the current peace programme would be in the form of a community initiative and would fall within the terms of the treaty and the order. However, at the Berlin European Council of 25th and 26th March 1999, provision was made for the continuation of the peace programme, but not as a community initiative.
§ The European Commission's draft regulations for implementation of the Berlin conclusions of 29th March 1999 showed that the proposed allocation of 500 million euros for the new peace programme will come from the EU's mainstream Objective 1 budget as opposed to its separate and distinct Community initiatives budget.
628§ To ensure the implementation body has the authority to fulfil the relevant functions for the post-1999 peace programme, as was the clear intention of both governments, it has been necessary to clarify the interpretation of the original treaty agreement in respect of the establishment of implementation bodies. This was done by means of an exchange of letters between my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ireland on 18th June 1999, confirming that the treaty should be construed as including any successor to the peace programme established within the framework of the European Community's structural funds. The text of the exchange of letters is set out in Schedule IA to the draft order before your Lordships' House today.
§ The next and final step in this clarification is for both governments to bring the exchange of letters within the terms of their associated domestic legislation. Hence the order we are considering today. The equivalent Irish Government amendment Bill was passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas on 24th June 1999.
§ As I said at the outset, we want to ensure that the Good Friday agreement can be implemented in full. It is therefore important that this technical matter should be resolved satisfactorily. That is the purpose of this short order. I commend it to your Lordships. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 28th June be approved [24th Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord Dubs.)
§ Lord GlentoranMy Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing this order today and explaining it so clearly, as he always does. I do not intend to take up a great deal of your Lordships' time. I should like to put on record that I have read Hansard from the other place where various matters were challenged by my honourable friends. I am perfectly satisfied by the responses given by the Minister in that place.
I am, however, slightly unsure of one area, which may be due to my own ignorance. While devolution has not yet taken place, I am a little concerned as to how these cross-border implementation bodies will come under scrutiny. Perhaps the Minister could enlighten me. Apart from that, I thank the Government, and in particular the Government Chief Whip's office, for all the assistance we, as the Opposition, have had during this difficult and fast-moving week.
§ Lord DubsMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for those comments. I am happy to hear that the Government Whips' office is co-operative, as usual. I do not think there is any doubt about that on our side. The cross-border implementation bodies will not come into existence until devolution has taken place. They will be one of the immediate consequences of a transfer of power to the Assembly. As that has not yet taken place and they do not exist, there is nothing for them to do. I commend the order to the House.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.