HC Deb 30 November 1882 vol 275 cc365-7
MR. O'DONNELL

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is true that the Inspector, who recently presented a favourable report with regard to the inhabit- ants of Tory Island, consulted neither the Catholic clergyman, nor any other person acquainted with the real condition of the people; if the Inspector went inside any of the houses on the Island; and, if so, how many; whether he has heard that two heads of families begged for relief from the priest, on the ground that neither they nor their children had tasted food on the very day of the Inspector's visit; and, whether, on the day following the visit, seven families begged to be sent away from the Island, before they were face to face with starvation?

MR. TREVELYAN

The following extracts from the Inspector's Report will show the hon. Member that he has been misinformed:— The house of the Roman Catholic priest' the Rev. James O'Donnell, is near East Town, and from the deck of the gunboat, seeing him walking on the road near it, I sent a message by a boat that came out from the Island requesting him to come to West Town, near which was the only landing place where there was not heavy surf. Further on in the Report he says— The Rev. Mr. O'Donnell kindly accompanied me, and gave me such information as he possessed about the people and their ordinary sources of livelihood. And again he states— I thought it my duty to tell Father O'Donnell, before leaving, that I did not think there was anything so exceptional in their case but what the Poor Law could meet in its ordinary administration. The Inspector adds that he was met with a good deal of reticence by others to whom he put questions. I have obtained a further Report from the Inspector, giving a more detailed account of his conversation with the Rev. Mr. O'Donnell, in which he mentions that he visited the national school with him, and that he entered several of those houses which appeared to be the poorest. When leaving the Island and on telling the clergyman, as I above quoted, that he had not found exceptional distress, the rev. gentleman mentioned two families that were so poor as to have to beg for help from him and their neighbours. The Inspector had not then time to go back and examine into those two cases; but promised that the relieving officer would soon be over on the Island, and would inquire into them. This is the latest information received from the Island, and I have not heard of the seven families alluded to in the final paragraph of the Question. I will communicate with the Vice President of the Local Government Board, with a view of securing that the visit of the relieving officer is made as soon as possible.

MR. O'DONNELL

asked, Was he to understand that the Inspector invited Father O'Donnell to come to East Town to him, and that the Inspector consequently did not visit the poor dwellings in East Town?

[No reply was given.]

MR. O'DONNELL

said, he would ask a further Question on the subject on Monday, and that he would also ask if the Chief Secretary had seen the comments of The Londonderry Journal, which circulated in Donegal, upon the destitution in that part of Ireland?