§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many times in the last five years has the Attorney General used his power to "certify out" (for trial by jury) an offence, which would otherwise be "scheduled", under the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act.
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone)The number of applications to the Attorney General for his certificate under Schedule 4 to the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978 that an offence is not to be treated as a scheduled offence is as follows:—
Year Total no. of applications Total granted Total refused 1982 453 284 169 1983 877 694 183 1984 S08 321 187 1985 352 262 90 1986 495 304 191 It will be understood that the above figures represent the numbers of relevant applications and not the numbers of cases involved, since there may have been more than one application in respect of a single case. Similarly, in some instances a single application may have been made in respect of more than one defendant.