§ MR. SEXTONasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If there are at present in the Constabulary Depôt, Phoenix Park, 450 men, of whom 300 are Catholics and 150 Protestants; whether, of the 12 cadets now acting as officers at the depôt, not one is a Catholic; whether the Catholic men have no Catholic officer to march them to Mass on Sundays and holidays; whether there has been no Catholic cadet at the Depôt for the last three years; whether the District Inspectors of the Constabulary throughout Ireland are drawn from the cadets at the Depôt; and, whether three Protestant cadets were admitted to the Depôt, a few days since, without examination, one of them, Mr. Penrose, being a gentleman whose family had rendered services to the Tory candidate in the recent election for the city of Cork?
§ MR. TREVELYANsaid, there were 680 men at the Constabulary depôt, of whom 421 were Roman Catholics and 259 Protestants. There were nine young officers, all of whom were Protestants. The Roman Catholic men were marched to church by a Roman Catholic officer. Six Roman Catholic cadets had been passed through the depôt in the past three years. The District Inspectors were drawn from the cadets, except those promoted from the ranks, of whom there were 19 during the last three years, nine of these being Roman Catholics. Three Protestant cadets in the month of January passed the prescribed examina- 23 tion, one of them being Mr. Penrose; and the suggestion that his appointment: had any connection with the subsequent City of Cork Election has no foundation, as he was nominated on the 19th June,. and he was selected cut of a large number of other candidates by competitive examination conducted by the Civil Service.