Northern Ireland: Political Developments

Lord Kilclooney Excerpts

Tuesday 28th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kilclooney (CB)]

My Lords, as one of those involved in the Belfast agreement, I am delighted at the Statement and the Government’s determination to try to help get devolution restored to Northern Ireland. However, the Statement says:

“But should the talks fail in their objectives, the Government will have to consider all options”.


Is direct rule an option, and is joint rule of Northern Ireland not an option?

[Lord Dunlop]

Our focus is on this period ahead—the window of opportunity the Secretary of State talked about—and I do not want to speculate about alternatives. Clearly, if we do not get agreement within this limited period, we need to consider all the options. However, it is fair to say that nobody wants to see a return to direct rule, which is why we need to intensify the discussions over the coming days and weeks.