§ MR. JORDAN(for Mr. WILLIAM REDMOND) (Fermanagh, N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Was there an Orange Lodge holding its meetings in the Ely Dispensary at the time when the Enniskillen Board of Guardians became tenants of the whole premises for the purpose of using said premises as a dispensary [and consequential Questions]?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH) (Bristol, W), in reply, said, he believed, that a Question on this matter had been asked before, and he had himself stated it was one in which the Local Government in Ireland had no power to interfere. But he was informed that an Orange Lodge held its meetings in the house at Ely 1465 Dispensary, Derrygonnelly, long before a portion of the premises was occupied as a dispensary. The original agreement of letting, dated May, 1852, was not forthcoming, but the present arrangement had been in force for over 30 years, and during that time there had never been any question that the landlord had let a portion of the building to an Orange Lodge. There was but one hall-way, which was used by all persons entering the house, and he was afraid he could not decide to which party this hall-way legally belonged. There was a caretaker in charge, but that person did not clean the room used by the Orange Lodge. It had never been denied that Orange flags had been displayed from the windows of that part of the house occupied by the Orange Lodge. Last week a Question had been asked whether an Orange flag was not displayed on a particular occasion, and he believed that he could correctly answer that in the negative.