Speeches by Robinson.

“That is a point of distinction.”

“Should we be in the realm of speculation? This is a genuine question for everyone. We have had 18 months of this Government: 18 months of a promise to repeal and replace; a large launch in September of a joint framework; and now a Legacy Bill—a Northern Ireland Troubles Bill—has been introduced, yet we are speculating.…”

“Just hold it there, Celine. Martin?”

“There is a willingness on our part to make sure that we are bringing these issues to the fore. We do not want this to be a lengthy series. This is part of our economic growth inquiry, but we are not going to wait to the end of that inquiry to make some of these issues known, because that would be too late for you, I da…”

“Thank you; that’s helpful. David, could I ask you to draw from the perspective of Action Mental Health on the real-world consequences for your service users?”

“Explain to the Committee what impact that has. What steps have you taken? At what point do you start issuing letters of notice to staff members, never mind service users?”

“Is this the third consecutive year in which groups have benefited from schemes—employability schemes primarily, but not just them—have had a cliff edge towards the end of a financial year?”

“Thank you. That is interesting. It highlights exactly the sort of frustration that you have on behalf of your members, service users and beneficiaries, and how important that is. Could I ask you, Celine, and then Martin and David, to indicate the impact of the lack of clarity for yourselves as previous recipients of th…”

“What about with MHCLG?”

“It is interesting, because you can see that the answer to that question came two weeks ago, and the Secretary of State indicated how important engagement was, but all three of you are indicating that there has been none. That is with the Secretary of State directly; have you had any engagement with his officials?”

“David?”

“Good morning to the three of you, and thank you for coming. It is important that you are here today to try to build the case for greater clarity from Government. You have been doing a lot of the work since the summer, whenever it became clear that Northern Ireland was again being told, “Details to follow.” We as Northe…”

“The Prime Minister has a deep understanding of policing in Northern Ireland and its importance. He knows about the ongoing national security threat and about the additional costs of dealing with the legacy of our past. He knows that the Police Service of Northern Ireland has been underfunded, and that the Northern Irel…”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. It is quite right that she took the last two interventions because she was talking about cross-party support for Northern Ireland farms. She is blessed to have a constituency with some of the most fertile and therefore valuable agricultural land in Northern Ireland…”

“rose—”

“Good morning, Lord Murphy.”

“Thank you for your engagement during the process. I think it was cordial and thoughtful, and we appreciate your work, although not necessarily the outcome, but that is politics. Whenever we met—you were kind enough to meet this Committee at the very start of your review, and we had a discussion in one of the Committee …”

“For the benefit of the text, he flapped his wings.”

“Were you disappointed that the First Minister for all did not engage with your process?”

“You have framed all this around recommendations that followed consensus among the parties. There is a recommendation in your report that I am not sure you will have heard much from us on that would have led to consensus. It was a recommendation that arose out of a view given by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commiss…”