HC Deb 02 November 1882 vol 274 cc629-30
MR. LEA

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If his attention has been drawn to the report that— 300 persons in Tory Island are without food, and the means of getting any, and also that other portions of the western population are in a state of impending starvation; and, if so, what steps have been taken to meet this distress?

MR. TREVELYAN

As I have already stated, I have directed the Local Government Board to send one of their Inspectors to the Union and make inquiry on the spot, and a gun-boat has been placed at the disposal of the Irish Government for the conveyance of food and other necessaries to the Island, should it be found requisite to do so. The Local Government Board have also called on their Inspectors for special Reports from Glenties Union, in Donegal, and Ennistymon Union, in Clare, where it has been alleged exceptional distress exists or may be anticipated. The Report from Glenties Union has already arrived in Dublin; and I am told by telegraph that it shows the serious results from the storm, and the apprehended distress, to have been exaggerated.