Mr. P?draig ? Muirigh:

Absolutely. The human rights ethos is ingrained in the Good Friday Agreement. Reconciliation with and respect for human rights are central to the key objectives and goals of the Good Friday Agreement, and I feel that this legislation is the first step to the British Government's withdrawal from the European Court of Human Rights. That, ultimately, is its objective, and that will be devastating for the Good Friday Agreement. We have seen it with the issue of immigration and the approach to Brexit. Some of the decisions of the Supreme Court were challenged by the Government, and the right-wing media referred to the judiciary as "enemies of the people". This is all classic right-wing autocracy. We see it in other autocratic countries where the judiciary is attacked. A judiciary is a key bulwark against excessive use of powers by the executive.

There is a bigger picture here. I referred earlier to a deliberate collision course that this Government is on with the judiciary on rights-based issues. We see it in the right to protest as regards the Palestinian issue as well. In recent years, there has been a mission creep around rights. The Government would actually welcome a challenge, even a negative announcement or decision, from the Supreme Court where it can point to the judiciary impacting its democratic manifesto to implement X, Y and Z, which was passed in the election and supported by the people. That is the kind of language the Government is talking. There is a real danger that this Act is only the start.

I did a Zoom call with students from Sheffield about this legacy issue a number of months ago. They made commentary about this being devastating for families in the North of Ireland. I warned them that this is much bigger and also their problem because this is perhaps the start of a withdrawal from the European Court of Human Rights and that, if that was the case, it is devastating for legacy families but it involves much wider political damage for the Good Friday Agreement. It is a key element of it. Such a withdrawal from the European Court of Human Rights or the Human Rights Act being repealed would be not only quite a bad political move on the part of the Tory Government, it would also be devastating for the peace process.