His maiden speech
22 October 1997, House of Lords

Lord Alton of Liverpool - My Lords I feel especially privileged this afternoon to follow the noble Lord Lord Mayhew not only because of the memorable speech which he made today but of course because of the distinguished contribution which he made to seeking reconciliation and political progress in Northern Ireland.

I am also pleased to follow my friend the noble Lord Lord Alderdice who has made a characteristic contribution to the debate this afternoon in the service of reconciliation in Northern Ireland. In a previous existence it was always a great pleasure to work with him in Northern Ireland. He will know that because of the British Irish mix in the City of Liverpool the city from which I come it is sometimes jokingly referred to as the capital of Ireland.

As a student elected to its city council in 1972 the council then under the distinguished leadership of the noble Lord Lord Sefton of Garston I entered a town hall which still had a sectarian party and a politics where the last vestiges of orange and green rivalries still lingered. In 1979 during a maiden speech in the other place I reflected on that sectarian past and spoke of the beginning of the constructive new ecumenical partnership then being forged by the citys two bishops. Last year Archbishop Derek Worlock died and last month Bishop David Sheppard retired having made many significant interventions in your Lordships House. He said he knew it was time go when during a parish visit a youngster asked him if he had ever been interested in cricket.

Enduring though their legacy will be there has not always been such amity. Forty years earlier the citys bishops declined to say the Lords Prayer together. Twenty years before that the city council for sectarian reasons declined to give permission for the construction of the citys Roman Catholic cathedral. The formidable efforts of our two bishops and the Free Church leaders have today made such scandalous sectarianism an impossibility and their philosophy of better together has helped to heal historic divisions.

There are all too obvious parallels and applications in Northern Ireland. Cardinal Cahal Daly the former Irish Catholic Primate well understood the nature of sectarianism when he told a meeting which I helped to organise here three years ago that both houses of hate are a plague on our society and that both sides must abandon any solution that implies a victory for either side.

My maiden speech in the other place was made in unusual circumstances. Twenty four hours before my election Lord Callaghans Government had been defeated on a confidence Motion and a general election declared. As Members packed their bags and left for the hustings I had little choice but to risk a maiden within hours of arriving and leaving again. Thankfully todays debate is being held in less exacting circumstances. But more poignantly on the day after my by election Mr Airey Neave was assassinated by the IRA within the precincts of the Palace of Westminster. It was an acute reminder to me of the enormities to which ancient hatreds can lead. How right was Liverpools most famous son Mr. Gladstone when he mused at the time of the defeat of his Home Rule Bill in your Lordships House that the one and only conspicuous failure of our political genius had been the failure to achieve a political solution in Ireland.

Nearly a century later in 1985 with the noble Lords Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge Lord Hunt and the noble Baroness Lady Williams of Crosby I helped to draw up a report on the future of Northern Ireland. We recorded the terrible and pointless waste of life and the disastrous effect on the economy caused by that continued political failure. Since then the toll has risen inexorably. Since 1969 and by September of this year 3196 people had died in Northern Ireland. That included 2247 civilians and a further 37617 people had been injured. Life has been lived and lost against the backdrop of more than 35000 shootings nearly 10000 bombs exploded and nearly 20000 armed robberies. Protection rackets many involving drugs so-called punishment beatings intimidation and expulsions have disfigured life in Northern Ireland. These have gone on unabated even while the talks have continued at Stormont. Between June and September of this year the Northern Ireland Housing Executive had to rehouse 132 families ordered off their estates by paramilitaries seeking to assert their authority. In Gostin Street Belfast a man was recently held down and his fingers on both hands smashed with a hammer. Ten days ago in the Grosvenor Road area an 18 year-old man was shot in the legs. Last month a mixed-marriage family was forced to leave Craigavon with their children aged 11 weeks and 20 months. Such intolerable behaviour should have no place in a democratic society. This blatant intimidation certainly has nothing to do with the rule of law.

An end to this catalogue of violence remains the elusive prize which will reward the patience and perseverance of those constructively engaged in the present negotiations. For their original act of courage Mr John Major the noble Lord Lord Mayhew Mr Albert Reynolds, along with all those of Northern Irelands political and religious leaders who continue to take risks for peace deserve our unqualified praise and unambiguous support.