§ Mr. BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the report, "A Citizen's Inquiry: the Opsahl report on Northern Ireland"; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir Patrick MayhewThe commission provided me with a copy of its report when it was published. It provides a valuable record of the commission's work, which clearly did much to stimulate the submission of views from a wide range of individuals and organisations. In addition the commission itself made a number of recommendations. A number of these are clearly controversial and have provoked dissenting comment. Its value, in my view, lies principally in enlivening and developing informed public debate and in offering an important source of ideas, both from the commission itself and from the many submissions made to it.