HC Deb 11 June 1886 vol 306 cc1482-5
MR. DE COBAIN (Belfast, E.)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he is aware that the exasperated feeling in Belfast at present is due in great measure to the fact that in some of the concerns connected with that town Roman Catholic overseers had threatened the men under them belonging to a different faith with immediate dismissal upon the establishment of a Home Rule Parliament for Ireland; whether any information has reached him of misconduct on the part of the country police draughted into Belfast for the preservation of order in the disturbance which took place on the Shankhill Road; if an indignation meeting of the citizens of that locality, attended in great numbers by the traders and clergy of the various churches and others, has been held, calling upon the authorities to have these police removed and the military substituted for them, and demanding that investigation should be promptly made into recent occurrences in Belfast; and, what steps Her Majesty's Government propose to take in the matter?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. CHILDERS) (Edinburgh, S.)

My right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary having gone to Ireland, he has asked me to reply to the Question of the hon. Member. The Government have received no official information in the sense of the first paragraph of the hon. Member's Question. As regards the second paragraph, no information of a reliable character has reached the Government of any misconduct on the part of any member of the county constabulary now serving in Belfast. As regards the third paragraph, it appears from the newspapers that such a meeting was held, and that resolutions were passed to the effect stated. But these have not been officially brought under the notice of the Government; therefore the Government can express no opinion in the matter. A resolution was, however, passed yesterday at a meeting of magistrates, presided over by the Mayor, which was brought under the notice of the Government by the senior Resident Magistrate. It was in the following terms— That it is the opinion of this meeting that the county constabulary should not be used in disturbed districts unless it should become absolutely necessary, and that the local magistrates be directed to assist the resident magistrates in maintaining the peace of the town. Also that, the aid of the military having been called in, it be approved of. On receipt of this the following message was sent by the Irish Government to the senior Resident Magistrate— While the views of the local magistrates should have every attention paid to them, it is absolutely necessary that the most energetic measures should be taken to preserve the peace of the town, and the large extra force of police sent there for this purpose must, of course, be further utilized for that purpose. The association of local magistrates with the resident magistrates will, it is hoped, be productive of good. This instruction was acted upon, and all the available force with police and military were employed in the streets. The Government have the fullest confidence in the Royal Irish Constabulary, and have no intention, so long as disturbances continue in Belfast requiring the presence of an extra force, that their services should not be utilized to the fullest extent.

MR. T. M. HEALY (Londonderry, S.)

I should like to ask the right hon. Gentleman, whether he is aware that the Mayor of Belfast, who presided over the meeting of magistrates yesterday and called for the removal of the police, is himself a proprietor of the works of Harland and Wolff, which contain almost every one of the rowdies who were attacked by the police?

MR. W. O'BRIEN (Tyrone, S.)

I should like to know, whether it is not notorious that several of the local magistrates who passed this resolution are themselves Orangemen, some of them being Grand Masters of Orange Lodges; and whether the conduct complained of on the part of the county constabulary was not caused by their attempt to protect defenceless Nationalist families and to repel the ruffians who attacked them?

MR. CHILDERS

As to the first Question, I presume the answer would be yes; but I have no official information on the subject. All the information I have is that supplied by the newspapers. As to the second Question, I am afraid I cannot answer it, because at the Home Office we do not keep lists of Orangemen or Orange Lodges in Ireland.

MR. SEXTON (Sligo, S.)

I beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman, whether the Government have any information that there was further wrecking and pillaging of houses last night; whether the movement has now assumed the threatening and serious aspect of plunder; and whether the meeting referred to by the hon. Gentleman above the Gangway (Mr. De Cobain) passed this resolution— That this meeting strongly condemns the conduct of those who attacked the houses and destroyed the property of innocent and inoffensive people residing in their midst; and in the opinion of the gentlemen who moved that resolution the fault of the police appeared to be that they fired on the mob, because he said if the shots had been fired in the direction of the rowdies it would have been all right?

MR. CHILDERS

I am afraid that it is not quite germane to the Question, and that I ought not to answer it at this moment. If the hon. Member will ask me whether we have received information from Belfast as to what happened last night or to-day, I will give him all the information we possess.

MR. T. M. HEALY

Is the right hon. Gentleman in a position to say whether the man shot at Monaghan by the Orangemen has since died?

MR. CHILDERS

I am not quite certain. Certainly one man injured has not died.