§ CAPTAIN NOLANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, If battalion drill and guard mounting form part of the instruction of recruits at the Constabulary Depôt, Phœnix Park; and if so, whether these are ever practised by the policeman after he leaves the Depôt; and, having in view the alleged already too military character of the police, and the fact that their cost is credited exclusively to the Irish Civil Service Estimates, to ask if such instruction in battalion drill and guard mounting is to be continued?
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS - BEACHSir, a few simple movements of battalion drill are taught to the recruits at the Constabulary Depôt in the Phœnix Park, such as are likely to be of use to them in their future service; for, as is well known, members of the Force are frequently called upon to act together in bodies of considerable size. There is no guard mounting parade, properly so called, but as there is a force of between 600 and 700 recruits continually receiving instruction at the depot, and it is necessary to keep a proper supervision over the large amount of public property in the magazine, clothing stores, stables, and other buildings there, guards are mounted for this purpose. I know of no way in which such supervision could better be provided than by the members of the Constabulary Force themselves.