David Norris (Independent)

I will give a further comment. The Minister of State quoted the business of assurances which were given. It has been made expressly clear by the Venice Commission that those assurances are not worth anything unless they are legally enforceable against the country giving the assurances. Paragraph 233 of the explanatory memorandum states:

The principle of trust has been invoked by other governments. This is the case with Ireland, for example: the government has stated there was no reason to investigate the presence of American aircraft, since the United States had given assurances.

The Government conveniently neglected to mention or give any reference to the attitude of the Venice Commission.