HC Deb 04 April 1881 vol 260 c559
MR. HEALY

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he has ascertained whether the men who committed the outrage on Mr. Penrose Fitzgerald's sheep are known to the authorities, and, if they were soldiers, to what regiment they belong, if they have been arrested under the Protection of Person and Property Act; and, if not, if he could explain why they were not so arrested?

MR. W. E. FORSTER

Sir, I had hoped that a communication in reference to this matter I had made privately to another hon. Member would have prevented the hon. Member for Wexford putting this Question. In consequence of the horrid nature of the crime to which the Question refers the case was heard with closed doors, and I cannot further allude to the offence. The accused person was arrested in the ordinary course of law, tried and convicted at the Assizes; and it, therefore, was not necessary to arrest him under the provisions of the Protection of Person and Property Act.