Speeches by Benn.

“You are asking me to presume what the Government’s decision would be after the Supreme Court judgment, which, though you kindly invite me to do so, I am not going to do before the Select Committee today. I have said to Sir Iain in my reply that the Government will return to this matter after the judgment.”

“Yes, it is a Government policy, but it is being queried in the Thompson case. I have no idea, of course, what the Supreme Court will say, but the Government’s view is that it would be sensible to have the benefit of that judgment before making a final decision in relation to the request that the Kenova inquiry made of …”

“NCND is absolutely at the heart of the Thompson case.”

“It may or it may not. That depends when the Supreme Court decides to deliver a judgment in the Thompson case, which is obviously not in my control. Even if Kenova has published, the Government are still able to reflect on the request that was made and make a decision once we have seen what the Thompson judgment has to …”

“I met Sir Iain Livingstone last week. Following up on the exchange we had about three months ago, I went away and checked that the letter to him responding to the recommendations has gone, and the letter in relation to his separate request referring to the naming of Stakeknife. I think I am right in saying that the let…”

“That is why I have said repeatedly that I have confidence in the leadership of the commission. I really do not think it helps to attack people on that basis, but the commission needs to have effective mechanisms for dealing with conflicts of interest, or apparent conflicts of interest. That is something that will be fo…”

“That is a judgment the commission would have to make in the circumstances. One of the tasks that we are all engaged in here is how to command greater confidence in precisely these legacy processes, given that there are a lot of people who do not have confidence in them at the moment.”

“As I have learned from the very beginning of dealing with this, lots of people say lots of things. They are not things that I have said. Indeed, I have said that I have confidence in the leadership of the commission. That is very important. People, of course, are entitled to their opinion. It is a mistake to focus on i…”

“As I indicated in answer to an earlier question, the oversight board that we are looking to establish will invite applications. Those can come from people from any jurisdiction with a wide range of experience. The appointments to those boards, one hopes, will offer the people you are referring to and who are asking the…”

“When I say that I have been listening very carefully in the very large number of meetings that I have had with a very wide group of people, I mean it. I have gone away and said, “On this point, this point and this point, what is the merit in doing something about that?” When the draft legislation is published, I hope t…”

“It is important to draw on all experience, including investigative experience as available. I would not support saying, “Just because you served in the RUC, you cannot have anything to do with investigations”. That, as I understand, is not the view of Sir Declan Morgan. I think that he was questioned on that by the Com…”

“It is undertaking investigations as we speak. The courts have found some things that it says are not compliant in relation to representation for families in the public hearings and what it has called the EIP in the past, and on disclosure. I told the House last December what I proposed to do in respect of those two thi…”

“The lack of trust on the part of quite a lot of people in Northern Ireland in the commission, in the form and circumstances in which it was created, stems from two things. One is the wider context. Everything else shut down. Inquests that were taking place were closed. Civil cases stopped. In respect of civil cases, th…”

“It depends in what circumstances that was operated. I should add that, as well as providing information, there is also an undertaking to ensure that witnesses from Ireland can be called. That, too, is extremely welcome. It is a very long memorandum of understanding and reflects the unprecedented nature of the co-operat…”

“That is something that the Irish have put into the MOU. One would have to ask them the question.”

“Is that in the MOU?”

“Of course I have discussed with the Irish Government their position on having their own way of looking at it, but their position is well known. In an agreement, you are only able to agree things where both parties share the same view. The time to make that judgment about what the MOU will produce is not now. It is when…”

“I would not agree with that. For those who are watching our exchanges today, as they did when we last discussed this, the memorandum of understanding provides the opportunity for information to be provided by the Irish Government to the public inquiry.”

“I would emphatically reject the suggestion that I am surrendering anything to anybody. Since I came into post 14 months ago, committed to repeal and replace the legacy Act, I have been looking to find a way forward, which is not going to please everybody. We have to acknowledge this. I read very carefully the summary o…”

“For the record, what I just read out was not from the memorandum of understanding. It was from the Omagh inquiry terms of reference.”