HC Deb 26 July 1888 vol 329 cc540-2
MR. JORDAN

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If his attention had been directed to the Resolution which appeared in The Irish Times and Freeman's Journal on Friday the 20th instant, signed by the Very Rev. M. Dinan, D.D., P.P., V.G., Kilrush, and 15 other priests, in whose parishes the Vandeleur property is situated, protesting against the insult alleged to be offered to them by their exclusion from the inner circle at the evictions on the Vandeleur Estate; whether he will state by what law, statute, or authority, these clergymen were so excluded; and, whether he will take steps, should there be any further evictions, to prevent a similar occurrence?

THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)

I under stand that a Resolution of the nature indicated has appeared in the news- papers. The ground upon which the Divisional Magistrate felt it his duty to refuse to permit the local Roman Catholic clergy to pass inside the cordon formed by the troops was, as I have already stated in reply to another Question, the fact of their having been (as they also admitted) the authors of the Plan of Campaign upon the estate; and at the commencement of the evictions some of their body have been seen to enter the church and set the bell tolling to assemble the people, notwithstanding that a Proclamation had been issued forbidding an assembly as likely to lead to disturbance. The Divisional Magistrate, in so refusing, acted under the general powers conferred by statute upon magistrates to secure the peaceable carrying out of the law. I cannot undertake to interfere with the administration of the law in the manner suggested in the concluding portion of the Question.

THE LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN (Mr. SEXTON) (Belfast, W.)

I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman if the clergy have solemnly and publicly denied that they had anything to do with the resistance offered; and, also, whether it was much more due to the presence of the clergy than to the armed forces of the Crown that the peace had been preserved among a population so dreadfully excited?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

If the hon. Gentleman asks me my opinion—whether my opinion agrees with his—I have to say that it does not.

MR. JORDAN

asked, whether it was not a matter of public notoriety that the priests had done their utmost to bring about a satisfactory settlement and to keep the peace; and that this attitude of theirs had been endorsed by the Local Government Inspector and the brother-in-law of Mr. Vandeleur?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

said, his information was that the clergy had not denied having anything to do with the Plan of Campain.

MR. SEXTON

They do deny it.

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

Well, my information is that they do not deny it. And if that is a fact, there is ample reason, in my opinion, for the action taken by the Divisional Magistrate.

MR. W. REDMOND (Fermanagh, N.)

Does the right hon. Gentleman say that the priests have not done their very best? Does the right hon. Gentleman not know——?

MR. SPEAKER

Order, order!