§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Solicitor General for Ireland whether his attention has been called to a letter addressed on the 16th instant to the Irish Prisons Board by the Mayor of Cork; whether he is aware that on the date mentioned a prisoner named James O'Brien, confined in Cork Gaol, expressed a wish to make a statement in private to the Mayor, Mr. M. J. Daly, 106 J.P., and Mr. C. J. Dunn, J.P., then members of the Committee of Visiting Justices, and visiting the prison as such; that the Deputy Governor thereupon interfered, and said that he could not permit any statement to be made to the Visiting Justices in private; and that the Justices had in consequence to retire without any statement being made; whether, under the prison rules, it is the right and the duty of Visiting Justices to hear the complaints of prisoners in private if asked to do so; and, what notice the Prisons Board propose to take of the Deputy Governor's conduct on the occasion in question?
§ MR. MADDENThe General Prisons Board report that the matter referred to had already come before them, and they forthwith instructed the Deputy Governor of the prison that the prisoner is entitled, under the rules, to have a private interview with the Justices.
§ MR. M. HEALYMay I ask for an answer to the last paragraph in the question? As I understand, it is admitted that the Deputy Governor of the Cork Gaol acted in an improper manner in preventing the Visiting Justices from having an interview with the prisoners. I wish, therefore, to know what notice the Prisons Board propose to take of the Deputy Governor's conduct.
§ MR. MADDENThe Deputy Governor appears to have acted in ignorance of the rule, and the Prisons Board have informed him that he acted in error.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYHas he been reprimanded?
§ MR. MADDENI am not aware that he has been reprimanded personally.