§ MR. MAGUIREsaid, in the absence of his hon. and gallant Friend (Captain Greville) he wished to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, If he is aware that the large and commodious Barracks at Mullingar hare for some time been unoccupied by a Regiment of the Line, and that at the present moment there are only two Companies quartered there; and whether, considering the central situation of Mullingar Barracks, on a line of Railways which connects it with the North and South, as well as the East and West of Ireland, he does not think it desirable that as large a force should be kept there now as formerly?
THE EARL OF MAYOsaid, in reply, that the Irish Government had nothing to do with the distribution of the troops in Ireland, except in cases of preserving the 1291 public peace; all ordinary movements of the Army were directed by the War Office. His own opinion, however, was that there was no necessity to station troops at Mullingar in any considerable force.