§ MR. M. BROOKSasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether Her Majesty's Government, having recently intimated its willingness to recommend to Parliament the grant of an annual sum of £600 for the maintenance of St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, as a public or 1883 people's park, on conditions, among others, that the Corporation of that City should forego a yearly rent of £276 now receivable there out, and should also contribute a sum of £600 annually, will recommend that, subject to such regulations as Parliament may approve, the control of said public or people's park, and the expenditure of the said Parliamentary grant be entrusted to the Lord Mayor and Corporation of said City; and, whether a precedent for such a course is not to be found in the Parliamentary grant to the Royal Dublin Society for the maintenance of the Leinster lawn?
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACHThe hon. Member's Question is based on the hypothesis that St. Stephen's Green is, or will be, a public or people's park. It is not so at present. Whether it will eventually become so is a matter for Parliament to decide, if the parties who are desirous it should become a public park make application to Parliament. If the Corporation of Dublin were to obtain a private Act vesting the Green in them as a "Public or People's Park," and giving them control thereof, it would be open to the Government to consider any application which might be made by the Corporation for a grant towards its maintenance as such; but it seems to me premature to express an opinion on the subject now. I cannot, however, admit that a precedent for such a course would be found in the grant to the Royal Dublin Society for the maintenance of Leinster Lawn; that is a small garden in the possession of the Royal Dublin Society, and bounded on three sides by the buildings of the Society and of the Government. St. Stephen's Green is, by the terms of the hon. Member's Question, an area of such size as to deserve the name of a park, and bordered by property belonging to a great number of owners.