HC Deb 21 June 1888 vol 327 cc796-7
MR. SHEEHY (Galway, S.)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether Daly, the prison warder who was dismissed at Sligo, was off duty from 2 p.m. till 9.30 p.m. on the evening of January 30, the day and time in which the prohibited articles were found in a certain prisoner's cell; whether Daly was on that evening, when he went on duty, asked for an explanation for the articles complained of being found in the prisoner's cell; whether he answered that before he went off duty he searched the prisoner's cell, and found nothing inadmissible in it, and that he left it all right; whether the prisoner in question was ever asked as to who was or who was not guilty of introducing into the prison the articles complained of; and, whether there was any evidence whatever to show Daly was the culprit, beyond the fact that the objectionable articles were found in the prisoner's cell; and, if not, whether he will re-open the inquiry, so as to enable the prisoner in question to come forward and state on oath whether it was or not Daly who brought these things in to him?

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

The General Prisons Board report that the statements in the first three paragraphs are substantially correct. The prisoner does not appear to have been questioned on the matter. As regards the last paragraph, the grounds on which the man was dismissed were that he was responsible for the presence of prohibited articles in a prisoner's cell of which he was at the time in charge, a responsibility equally attaching to him whether it was the result of wilful connivance or of culpable negligence on his part.

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

I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman if he regards the inquiry as satisfactory or complete, considering that the prisoner, the only person who could give a satisfactory explanation, was not examined?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

I presume the gentleman who held the inquiry satisfied himself that an examination of the prisoner was not necessary.

MR. SHEEHY

Will the right hon. gentleman give the prisoner in question the opportunity of swearing on oath that the man had nothing at all to do with the matter?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

I do not intend to have the matter re-opened.