David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

I acknowledge that the start of the Minister's last contribution was a step forward because he said he did not see any reason somebody released under licence under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and where their offences predated the agreement, could not hold a licence. As he knows, we made a different point. As a principle, that category of prisoner should be excluded from the Bill's provisions. It should not be the Minister's prerogative to make the decision. I accept his comments and he went some of the way towards addressing our concerns before turning to discuss other issues, including victims. While I agree that there are victims on all sides, his other points were made in an attempt to incite Sinn Féin Members. Many former political prisoners saw their family members and comrades die. Conflict resolution is not easy. I am and always will be sympathetic towards the plight of victims on all sides. Healing is being discussed in a broader sense and should not be debated in the context of this Bill under which political prisoners can be excluded from holding a licence if the Minister so wishes. However, he mentioned that he could not see a reason for this. If so, why can he not accept the amendment? He was referring to a larger issue.