HC Deb 11 April 1892 vol 3 cc1127-8
MR. P. O'BRIEN

I desire to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland a question of which I have given him private notice. It is whether his attention has been drawn to the report of a speech delivered by the hon. Member for North Armagh, in Belfast, in which, anticipating the establishment of an Irish Parliament, the hon. and gallant Gentleman is reported to have said— We intend to oppose by every means God has given us the creation of such an Authority in Ireland, and we intend to defy its authority; we intend to undermine and destroy it"? I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the Criminal Law Procedure (Ireland) Act does not contain a clause empowering the Crown to prosecute persons suspected of an intention to commit, or to induce others to commit, a crime; whether it is any crime to attempt to undermine or destroy by any means any institution by law established; and whether it is intended to institute any prosecution in this case; and, if not, are Irish Members at liberty to declare that they would refuse to obey the County Councils if by law established in Ireland, and thus to set the law at defiance?

* THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN,) Dublin University

The hon. Member was good enough to give me private notice of this question, but I must point out that it is founded upon an erroneous assumption as to an essential matter of fact. There is not in Ireland a Parliament by law established, and, therefore, the question does not arise.

MR. P. O'BRIEN

I should like to ask the right hon. Gentleman the First Lord of the Treasury if he intends to fulfil his promise to visit Belfast, and if he goes there will he endorse the statement of the Member for North Armagh?