HC Deb 16 April 1888 vol 324 cc1327-8
MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR(for Mr. T. M. HEALY) (Longford, N.)

asked Mr. Solicitor General for Ireland, If he has seen the reported statement of the Hon. Mr. Justice O'Brien at the Wicklow Assizes in The Irish Times of 12th April, that his Lordship had before him "a printed statement made apparently on oath by the prisoner" (a man named Buckley, on trial for his life, on a charge for which two persons have already been sentenced to death); can he say if this was a statement made under the Inquisition Clause of the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act; and, how came it to be furnished to the Court, and by whom?

THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN) (Dublin University)

Sir, on inquiring into the facts of the case, I find that the statement referred to was not made under any provision of the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, nor was Buckley, or either of the other prisoners charged with the offence, examined under that Act. The document referred to was an information made by Buckley; and a copy of it was, with the other informations and depositions, supplied by the Crown Solicitor, under the direction of the Attorney General, to the solicitor for the prisoners as well as to the Judge.