HC Deb 19 May 1890 vol 344 cc1284-5
MR. T. M. HEALY

I wish to ask the President of the Local Government Board if he is aware that Mr. Denis M'Namara, of Ennis, County Clare, was deprived of his licence by Mr. Cecil Roche, R.M., and other Stipendiaries, because he refused to give an undertaking not to sell United Ireland; that, on an application to the Queen's Bench and to the Court of Appeal in Ireland, it was found impossible to review this decision; and will it be possible to deprive a vintner of the right to compensation by Government Stipendiaries after the new Bill is passed in cases of this kind?

*MR. RITCHIE

I know nothing personally of the circumstances to which the hon. and learned Gentleman refers, but I understand from my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary for Ireland that the facts are not as stated in the question. I may say, however, that the Bill does not provide for the payment of compensation to any holder of a licence who is refused renewal by the existing authorities.

MR. T. M. HEALY

Does the right hon. Gentleman contend that Mr. M'Namara was not deprived of his licence by Mr. Cecil Roche, and that there was not an appeal?

*MR. RITCHIE

I contend nothing of the kind. I say I know nothing beyond the reply I have given.

MR. T. M. HEALY

I would like to ask the Chief Secretary what are the facts in the question which he disputes?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

I understand that, in the first place, the hon. Gentleman is wrong in supposing that Mr. M'Namara's licence was opposed for refusing to give an undertaking not to sell United Ireland. I understand it was opposed for an offence under the Licensing Act. It was not done, as the hon. Gentleman would seem to imply, by Mr. Cecil Roche sitting as a Resident Magistrate, but by the Magistrates in Quarter Sessions; though, no doubt, Mr. Cecil Roche was on the Bench. The matter did not come before the Court of Appeal, but it did come before the Court of Queen's Bench; and I believe, in the fourth place, that the licence was not opposed after it had been suspended for a year.

MR. T. M. HEALY

It did come before the Court of Appeal, and that will give us the measure of the right hon. Gentleman's accuracy in the other points he has dealt with.