§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland whether he has seen the Report of the proceedings of the Rathmore (County Kerry) Petty Sessions, on the 14th June and subsequent days, from which it appears that a number of men were charged with having assaulted the police, that two of the police assaulted (Constables O'Connor and Lett), who were at the time carrying rifles, admitted that they had been drinking previous to the occurrence, and that the two policemen, Burns and Cullinane, concerned in the case of the disturbance at Timoleague,. County Cork, on the 3rd September last, in which Daniel Donoghoe lost his life by a revolver shot fired by Constable Cullinane, also admitted that they had been drinking previous to the occurrence; whether his attention has been called to the increasing frequency of cases of this kind, pointing to the spread of drinking habits among the Irish police; and whether any of the constables referred to were on duty on the occasions in question?
§ *MR. MADDENAs regards the case referred to in the first paragraph, all the charges against the police were dismissed at Petty Sessions on the 7th inst., and the charges made by them against the defendants were sustained, and all the accused, with the exception of one, who was fined, were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, against which they have lodged appeals. The case against the two constables on disciplinary grounds will be inquired into by the Constabulary Authorities, as soon as it can be done without prejudice to the appeals pending. With respect to the case referred to in the second paragraph, although Constables Burns and Cullinane admitted that they had taken drink on the evening of the occurrence at Timo-league, it was proved that they were sober, both before going on duty at the time of the riot and after their return from that duty, and the Judge expressed a strong opinion in favour of the police. As already stated, the Inspector General reports that there is no ground for the suggestion that there has been a spread of drinking habits among the police. The four constables were on duty on the occasions in question.
§ COLONEL SAUNDERSONI beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland whether he has seen the report that two constables were stoned on the evening of 6th July at Tipperary, whilst engaged in ordinary police duty; and whether any arrests have been made in connection with this case?
§ *MR. MADDENThe Constabulary Authorities report that it is the case that while two constables were engaged in arresting a man at Tipperary on the charge of being drunk and disorderly they were set upon by a crowd of some 200 persons, who struck the constables with stones, and kicked them, inflicting injuries of such a nature as to necessitate the removal of one of the constables to hospital on the following day, and to render the other unfit for duty for the present. One arrest has been made, and others are expected to follow.