Mr. Brian Gormally:

My first answer is "Yes", but I will expand on that. As part of the St. Andrews Agreement, the UK Government pledged to legislate for an Irish language Act but, subsequently, it passed that commitment to Stormont in Northern Ireland where it has been blocked. We completely accept the need in the agreement for mechanisms that ensure that one community does not oppress another in the Legislature. That is why there are particular arrangements for coalition and consent in voting, the petition of concern and so on.

Our concern, which we mentioned in our paper, is that mechanisms that exist to prevent the oppression of minorities are being used to prevent measures that would increase the rights of minorities. We need a human rights and equality-based return to a devolved Administration in the North. It must be on the basis of the implementation of some of the weaknesses that we have all spoken about all morning. I mean the full implementation of the promises of the agreement and the proper operation of the mechanisms that were set up. For example, when a petition of concern is triggered, it is supposed to go to a special committee on human rights and equality to decide if it is in line with that. Unfortunately, that has not happened. We have listed a range of issues in the briefing paper. Perhaps not every single one needs to be implemented. However, the underpinning of devolved government must be put on a secure basis of human rights and equality. The language issue is just one of those matters. It is particularly important to people in symbolic terms and in other terms. It is the reassertion of the fairness of institutions across this island, which has been the main message that I have tried to convey this morning. We need it to prevent instability and prevent political turmoil turning into something much darker and much worse.