Decommissioning (Hansard, 2 December 1998)

§ 9. Mrs. Laing
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made on the decommissioning of illegally held arms and explosives. [61206]

§ 28. Mr. Fraser
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when she expects the decommissioning of illegally held arms and explosives to begin. [61225]

§ 30. Mr. Swayne
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress is being made in securing the decommissioning of weapons. [61227]

§ Marjorie Mowlam
I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave to the hon. Members for Witney (Mr. Woodward), for Mid-Worcestershire (Mr. Luff) and for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) on 2 December 1998,Official Report, column 865.

§ 26. Mr. Viggers
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will make it her policy that prisoner releases and the decommissioning of illegally held arms and explosives should proceed in parallel. [61223]

§ Marjorie Mowlam
The Government's policy is to implement the Belfast Agreement in full. The accelerated release of prisoners and the decommissioning of illegally held arms are both integral parts of the Agreement and it is essential that they, like every part, are implemented in full. There is no direct linkage in the Agreement and the Government cannot rewrite the Agreement.

§ 29. Mr. Donaldson
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans she has to review the conduct of specified organisations in co-operating with the International Commission on Decommissioning under section 3(9)(d) of the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998. [61226]

§ Marjorie Mowlam
The organisations currently specified under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 are INLA, Continuity IRA and the Real IRA. None of them are co-operating with the International Commission on Decommissioning.
The conduct of organisations, specified and not specified, is under continual review to ensure that those organisations which have not established or are not maintaining a complete and unequivocal ceasefire remain specified. All relevant factors, including the four factors set out in section 3(9) of the Act, are taken into account.