HC Deb 21 April 1975 vol 890 c236W
Mr. Molyneaux

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who will appoint the place and date of the first meeting of the constitutional Convention.

Mr. Merlyn Rees

Paragraph 7 of Schedule 2 to the Northern Ireland Act 1974 provides that the first meeting of the Convention shall be held on such a day, and at such a time and place, as the Secretary of State may by order direct. In making the order I shall take into account any representations made on behalf of members of the Convention. After the first meeting, the times and places of meetings will be a matter for the Convention to decide. It is not, therefore, as I told the House on 17th April, for the Convention to fix the date of its first meeting but only of its subsequent meetings.