HC Deb 19 May 1887 vol 315 c520
MR. FINUCANE (Limerick, E.)

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, If a Sheriff and those policemen who accompany him are entitled, whilst on eviction duty, to force their way through, the lands of any farmer who objects, and says he will treat them as trespassers; if they should refuse to leave, is the owner of the land empowered to use as much force as is necessary to remove them; and, if so, will the Government, in order to prevent collisions between the policemen and the people, direct that, for the future, the evicting force shall go to the house to be evicted, by the ordinary road; and, is it a fact that the Sheriff and police have often forced their way through the lands of farmers who have objected?

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. HOLMES) (Dublin University)

, in reply, said, that the Sheriff was not under the control of the Law Officers of the Crown. No complaint of the police had hitherto been made on the subject; but if any case, in which it was alleged the police acted improperly, was brought under his notice, he would cause inquiries to be made into it.