HC Deb 20 November 1888 vol 330 cc1652-3
MR. COX (Clare, E.)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ire- land, Whether he is aware that the police tore down the following notice from the chapel gate at Cooraclare, County Clare, on Sunday, 11th instant:— Kilmacduane Gaelic Athletic Association. A meeting of the above Association will be held at Cooraclare after last mass. Gaels come and join. Yours faithfully, S. MESCALL, HON. Sec.; and that two other notices were subsequently posted up and again torn down by the police; and, if so, by what right or authority the police acted in this manner?

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

(who replied) said: The Inspector General of Constabulary reports it is the case that the police tore down the notices alluded to. They did so in the discharge of their duty, as they had reason to believe that the object of the notices was an attempt to convene a meeting of the National League, which was suppressed in that district as an illegal Association.

MR. COX

Am I to understand that any ruffian of a policeman in the country may tear down a perfectly legal notice because he believes it to refer to a meeting of the National League, which (we have it on highest authority) is a "thing of the past"?

MR. SPEAKER

Order, order!