§ MR. O'DONNELL (for Mr. SHEIL)asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether, in the Union of Oldcastle, in the county of Meath, the population of which is 21,500, of whom ninety-five per cent, are Catholic, out of twenty ex officio guardians, eighteen are Protestant; whether the senior magistrate, who regularly attends, is assisted on the Bench by his three nephews, all of whom are Protestant; and, whether he can hold out the hope that the Irish Executive will make such representations to the Lord Lieutenant of the county of Meath, as may induce him to fill up the three existing vacancies on the Bench by the appointment of Catholic gentlemen?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. W. M. JOHNSON)Sir, in answer to the first part of the inquiry, I am not able to ascertain the religious persuasions of the Poor Law Guardians of the Oldcastle Union. As to the second, I believe the senior magistrate of the Oldcastle Petty Sessions district is a Protestant. Other local magistrates, one of whom is a nephew of his, and a Resident Magistrate, whom I am informed is a Catholic, also attend the same Petty Sessions. As to the third part, the hon. Member is doubtless aware that the appointment of county magistrates rests, not with Her Majesty's Government, but with the Lord Chancellor.