To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether his Department has plans (a) to introduce additional measures and (b) to use existing procedure to effect special treatment of on-the-runs. (118396)

In my letter to the hon. Member for North Down of 1 November 2006, I made clear that while the Government continue to accept that the position of “on the runs” is an anomaly, and we believe that the anomaly will need to be addressed at some stage, we have no plans to bring forward any legislation on “on the runs”, or to introduce an amnesty. That remains the position.

All “on the run” cases continue to be subject to the normal criminal justice process. I refer the hon. Lady to the answer given by my predecessor, the right hon. Member for Airdrie and Shotts (John Reid) on 1 July 2002, in which he said:

“We are still considering how best to implement the proposals which we and the Irish Government made in relation to this following the Weston Park talks. In the meantime, any inquiries received in relation to individuals wishing to establish whether they are wanted in Northern Ireland in relation to suspected terrorist activities have been communicated to the Attorney General, who has referred them to the prosecuting authorities and the police.”

[Question Reference 69943, 1 July 2002, Official Report, column 136W].