Maurice Hayes (Independent)

I support the plea for a debate on the forthcoming report. I hope the Leader will balance the debate in such a way that it does not become an orgy of Brit bashing and do more harm than good. I have enormous sympathy for those who lost loved ones, who will not be brought back by it, and I have enormous admiration for the courage they have shown in remaking their lives over the years. I am a poor surrogate for the Protestant and Unionist people in Northern Ireland but this gives us some feeling of what many of them went through over this period when they saw unsolved crimes and perceived that there has been a lack of co-operation in dealing with them.

That was then, however, and this is now. We have been through this awful period and are beginning to pull things together. The relationship between the British and Irish Governments over the past ten years has been very helpful and to say that we would have to review our attitude to the British Government could be destructive. If there is a debate, we must remember that the Good Friday Agreement draws a line under the past and we are trying to make our way into the future.