§ MR. P. O'BRIEN (Monaghan, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether Irish prison officials are obliged to wear the prison uniform when off duty, under pain of dismissal; whether he can give the date of such rule or order by the Prisons Board, and the particular circumstance which called for it; whether, since the issue of this order, prison officers have been assaulted and maimed in the streets of Cork, Kilkenny, Tralee, Belfast, and Kilmainham; whether there is any evidence to show that these attacks were attributable to the fact of the officers being easily recognised by their assailants, in consequence of their uniforms; and whether it has come to the knowledge of the Prisons Board that the officers regard this order making the wearing of prison uniform off duty compulsory as a constant source of personal danger; and, if so, whether he will cause such order to be cancelled?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. A. J. Balfour, Manchester, E.)The General Prisons Board report that Irish prison officers are obliged to wear their uniform when off duty, but not under the special penalty of dismissal. This order has been in existence since February, 1879, soon after the establishment of the General Prisons Board. There have been a few cases in which prison officers have come into collision with persons outside, but in no case have the results been at all serious; nor is there any evidence that they were due to the officers being in uniform, while it is manifest that any officer can be easily recognised in the locality to which he belongs, whether in or out of uniform. The Board do not believe that the wearing of uniform is a source of danger. They have always been ready to permit in individual cases, where reasonable grounds are assigned, officers to wear plain clothes, but from an administrative point of view they cannot recommend a rescission of the order.
§ *MR. P. O'BRIENIs there any reason why the prison officials in Ireland should not be allowed the same privilege in regard to wearing their own clothes as those in England? What is the special reason for the change?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am afraid that I cannot answer that question. There is a difference, and I will endeavour to find out what it is, and what is the reason for it?