HC Deb 05 May 1887 vol 314 cc961-3
MR. T. M. HEALY (Longford, N.)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, How many notices of eviction have been served by Lord Granard on the Board of Guardians respecting his Drumlish (County Longford) property; is it the fact that the Government have sent some 100 police to the spot; and, could he state whether any of those families threatened with eviction have only recently been relieved by public charity?

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)

(who replied) said: It appears that the number of families to be evicted on the Drumlish estate was 11. Notices of eviction were duly served on the relieving officer. Two hundred police were ordered to protect the Sheriff. The persons to be evicted have not been at any time in receipt of relief from the rates of the union; but they are represented to be in very poor circumstances. The Government are informed that the agents, the Messrs. Roe, have openly stated that it is not the landlord (Lord Granard), but the mortgagees of the estate who have pressed the matter to the extreme of eviction.

MR. CONYBEARE (Cornwall, Camborne)

Are these Messrs. Roe the same as the agent at Glenbeigh?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

I do not know.

MR. T. M. HEALY

I did not mean to cast any reflection on Lord Granard, but only to get at the facts; but as the right hon. and gallant Gentleman has stated that it is the mortgagees who are responsible, will he give us the names of the agents and mortgagees?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

The agents' names I have already stated. The mortgagees are Maynooth College.

MR. T. C. HARRINGTON (Dublin, Harbour)

Might I ask the right hon. and gallant Gentleman whether it was the same agents who recently burned the houses at Glenbeigh; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will take steps to prevent them from burning the houses of these people also?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

I have already stated that I do not know. (Cries of "They are!"] The hon. and learned Gentleman can put the Question down.

MR. T. M. HEALY

May I ask the right hon. and gallant Gentleman, does he mean to convey that the authorities of Maynooth College, a Catholic Institution, where priests are educated, are responsible for these evictions?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

That is a matter which does not come within my knowledge. What I stated was that the agents had publicly stated that it was at the instance of the mortgagees, and not of Lord Granard, that these evictions had taken place.

MR. T. M. HEALY

This is a matter which ought to be cleared up. The right hon. and gallant Gentleman has now let it go before the public that it is owing to the action of the authorities of Maynooth College that these evictions have taken place. I wish to ask him does he adhere to that statement, or does he withdraw it or qualify it?

MR. CHANCE (Kilkenny, S.)

With the permission of the House, may I be allowed to state that I am the solicitor to Maynooth College and its Trustees, and there is not a particle of truth in the allegation.

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

I most carefully refrained from mentioning the names of the mortgagees. I mentioned the names of the agents. The hon. and learned Gentlemen asked me the names of the mortgagees, and I stated that I had been informed it was Maynooth College.

MR. T. M. HEALY

I ask the right hon. and gallant Gentleman, is the Government acquainted with all these cases of eviction, and does it not make itself acquainted with the names of the agents in each case, the ground of the eviction, and everything appertaining to the circumstances; and I ask him now, will he give us the names of the agents in these cases who are evicting these 40 families, who admittedly are poor and practically starving. Can he give us the names of the mortgagees for whom these agents are acting?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

I have already given the name of the agents, the Messrs. Roe; and of the mortgagees, Maynooth College.

MR. T. M. HEALY

Does the right hon. and gallant Gentleman state that the Messrs. Roe, the Glenbeigh evictors and the burners of the houses, are acting for Maynooth College in this matter?

MR. SPEAKER

Order, order!