HC Deb 20 July 1882 vol 272 cc1079-80
MR. HEALY

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If Mr. Harrel, who is now acting as special resident magistrate in Belfast; and deciding cases between the people and the police was lately the chief detective officer of police in Belfast; if it is true that there is no Roman Catholic stipendary magistrate in Belfast at present; if the Government in the year 1865, after the report of the Special Commission presided over by the pre-sent Baron Dowse and the present Mr. Justice Barry, agreed that two resident magistrates not connected with the people of Belfast, one a Protestant, and the other a Roman Catholic, should be permanently appointed for Belfast; if the Government will at once appoint a lawyer as one of the resident magistrates for that town; if the Government also agreed to appoint a certain number of Protestant police officers for Belfast; if the present magistrate, Mr. Harrel, was one of the Protestant policemen so appointed, and as riots are again proceeding in Belfast, will the Government remove Mr. Harrel, or direct him not to adjudicate in party cases; and, if the Government will at once appoint a Roman Catholic magistrate for Belfast?

MR. TREVELYAN

Sir, Mr. Harrel is not acting as special Resident Magistrate in Belfast. He was sent there as he knew the town well for a few days during the July anniversaries, but has since returned to his station in the County Mayo. There are no special Resident Magistrates in Belfast at present. I cannot find any record of the Government having pledged themselves to the arrangements mentioned in the Question with regard to the Resident Magistrates and police officers in Belfast; but it has been usual for some years past to have a Protestant and Roman Catholic Resident Magistrate stationed there, and the Government has no present intention of departing from that custom. There are at present three Protestant and one Roman Catholic Sub-Inspectors stationed there. The two Resident Magistrates whose station is Belfast are, and have been for some time, employed on special duty elsewhere, and I cannot give any pledge of appointing a lawyer as one of the magistrates in any redistribution of districts; but the matter will be carefully considered.