§ MR. TUITE (Westmeath, N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether further inquiry has been made into the case of the female patient in the Mullingar Lunatic Asylum, as promised by the Attorney General for Ireland; whether he can state under what circumstances was the engineer, the alleged father of the child, allowed access to the female quarter of the house unaccompanied by the matron or her deputy; who is responsible for such conduct, and what stops will be taken to prevent its repetition; and, whether, having regard to the serious nature of the charge, an independent public inquiry into the case will be immediately held?
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)(who replied) said, the Resident Medical Superintendent of the asylum reported that, under no circumstances, was the engineer allowed access to the part occupied by the females unaccompanied by a female attendant, The nature of the engineer's occupation required his attendance daily to look after the furnace fires. The patient was in the habit of going into the scullery whore the engineer was for water; but she was in charge of a nurse, and was never away long. The engineer was a I married man, apparently of a good character, and there was nothing about him to excite suspicion. The patient was fairly intelligible, was quite capable of making a rational statement, and appeared to have been a consenting party to the offence. There were no grounds for instituting criminal proceedings against the engineer. Care would be taken to prevent female patients being allowed to proceed to the scullery without being in charge of a responsible female attendant.