HC Deb 08 June 1882 vol 270 cc483-5
MR. GIBSON

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether any persons confined under the Protection Act in Ireland, under the reasonable suspicion of being guilty of crimes other than intimidation, have been recently released; and, whether he will give the number of such cases, and the crimes with which such persons were charged, and the grounds on which their release was ordered?

MR. TREVELYAN

Sir, in reply to the Question of the right hon. and learned Gentleman, I beg to say that 24 persons who had been in confinement under the Protection of Person and Property Act, under reasonable suspicion of being guilty of crimes other than intimidation, have been recently released. The right hon. and learned Member will be able to inform himself of the nature of these crimes if he will examine the list already presented to Parliament, together with that presented on the 5th of June, which will be in Members' hands in the course of a few days. In all these cases His Excellency, after careful inquiry and consideration, ordered the release of the parties, because he was satisfied that there was no longer any sufficient necessity for their detention.

MR. GIBSON

Is it a fact that some of the persons so released were suspected of the crime of murder?

MR. TREVELYAN

Sir, some of those persons were in prison on suspicion of inciting to murder; but the circumstances and the nature of that suspicion are obviously among the considerations which His Excellency has taken into account.

MR. GIBSON

I do not think I could have conveyed my Question. I asked whether any of the persons so released were confined under suspicion of having committed murder?

MR. HEALY

Before the right hon. Gentleman answers that Question, I beg to ask whether that suspicion was not merely the opinion of the right hon. Member for Bradford?

MR. TREVELYAN

None of those persons, so far as I am aware, were confined under the suspicion of having committed murder.

Subsequently,

MR. T. D. SULLIVAN

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he will consider the advisability of releasing from custody Mr. Joseph Fay, of Ballymore, county Westmeath, who has undergone more than six months' imprisonment on the ground of reasonable suspicion of inciting to non-payment of rent, and who is known to the clergy and people of Ballymore to be a man of orderly habits and good character; also, whether he will take into consideration the advisability of directing the release of Mr. Patrick Scally and Mr. Lawrence Daly, of Castletown, Geohagan, in the county of Westmeath, now imprisoned as suspects in Dundalk Gaol, on charges of intimidation, the truth of which they entirely deny, and their detention being the cause of great hardship and suffering to their families?

MR. TREVELYAN

His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant reconsidered Mr. Joseph Fay's case yesterday, but found that he could not at present order his release. His Excellency also reconsidered the cases of Messrs. Patrick Scally and Lawrence Daly yesterday, but found that they could not at present be released with safety to the peace of the district.

MR. BULWER

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether a suspect called Power from the neighbourhood of Tralee has been recently released from custody in Ireland by the Lord Lieutenant; with what offence was he charged; and, what was the reason for his release?

MR. TREVELYAN

Michael Power, of Tralee, was released from custody on the 18th of May by order of the Lord Lieutenant. The hon. and learned Member will find the particulars of the offence of which he was reasonably suspected in the Returns before the House. I think it is not convenient that in the case of this great number of "suspects" I should be asked to state to the House the nature of each offence. His Excellency carefully inquired into the case, and found that the state of the district now admitted of this man's release.