HC Deb 19 March 1883 vol 277 c791
MR. W. J. CORBET

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If his attention has been called to the following statement in the "Times" of 15th March— At the weekly mooting of the Board o* Guardians of Killarney Union held yesterday) a respectable looking farmer named M'Mahon applied to the Board for relief. He said he had recently been evicted, and that his daughter Ellen, aged 18 years, died immediately after they were evicted. In order to shelter her he took a door off its hinges, but the bailiffs pulled it away again, and they had nothing with which to cover the remains but a sheet. The Guardians unanimously expressed their opinion that the case was one of unprecedented inhumanity, and called the attention of Government to the matter; whether, in consequence of the representations of the Board of Guardians, any inquiry has been ordered; whether the death of Ellen M'Mahon was caused or accelerated by casting her out on the roadside in this wintry weather without shelter; whether an inquest was held in the case; and, what steps the Government propose to take to prevent similar cases in future?

MR. TREVELYAN

Sir, I regret to say that the circumstances are in the main as described. The case is certainly one demanding further investigation, and an inquiry is in course of being made by the Local Government Board to see, among other matters, whether the relieving officer was in fault. I have also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the graver circumstances of the case, to ascertain whether they are such as to authorize the institution of any further proceedings.

MR. SEXTON

Was an inquest held?

MR. TREVELYAN

No, Sir.