MR. O'CONNOR POWERasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If there is any reason for the further detention of Mr. Edward Slevin, of Ballinrobe, county Mayo, who has been imprisoned for thirteen months under the Coercion Act; whether there is any reason for the further detention of Mr. Thomas Dunleavy, of Kilmovee, county Mayo, who has been imprisoned as a suspect since the 23rd of November 1881; whether he will consider the advisability of releasing Mr. Martin King, a suspect imprisoned in Ennis-killen, or give him an opportunity, according to the ordinary process of Law, of meeting the charge alleged against him; whether the time has not come when Mr. John McCarthy, of Loughrea, who has been detained for more than eight months as a suspect, may be released; whether Mr. Edward Connor, of Ballymore, county Roscommon, who has been detained for the past five months as a suspect in Galway Prison, may now be released; whether he will give the House a statement of the dimensions of the cell which Mr. Connor has been forced to occupy during that time; and, whether the cell is so small and dark as to have injuriously affected Mr. Connor's sight?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERThe hon. Member asks me Questions as to several prisoners, and I have to say that their cases have all been considered, but up to the present time I have not been able to recommend to his Excellency the release of any of them. With respect to Mr. Connor, of Ballymore, Roscommon, I have made inquiries, and find that he occupies a cell in Galway Prison measuring 17 feet long by 8 feet wide. The medical officer certifies that he can find nothing wrong with Mr. Connor's eyes, and that, if his sight is defective, it must have been so before his admission to the prison.