§ MR. WHALLEYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, with reference to the appointment of Mr. Fanning to the office of Assistant Inspector General of Police in Ireland, Whether it is the fact that Mr. Fanning, being a Roman Catholic, was so appointed over the heads of no less than fourteen inspectors who were Protestants, all of whom were his seniors in the service?
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACHSir, I believe it is the fact that Mr. Fanning, who has been appointed to the office of 1257 Assistant Inspector General of Constabulary in Ireland, is a Roman Catholic, and that at the time of his appointment there were 14 officers senior to him in the Force, two of whom were also Roman Catholics. The promotion to the office in question, however, does not depend on seniority, and Mr. Fanning was specially recommended for it by both the present and the late Inspector General on the ground of merits alone, and the qualifications both of Mr. Fanning and of the officers senior to him were carefully inquired into by the Government before the appointment was made.