§ MR. M. J. KENNY (Tyrone, Mid.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on what basis the respective contributions of the Treasury, the Corporation of Dublin, and the Grand Jury of County Dublin towards the reconstruction of Green 880 Street Court House are calculated; how long the present Court House has been in existence; and if his attention has been directed to the reports in the newspapers of a recent important criminal trial, in the progress of which the leading counsel for the accused had twice to leave the Court owing to the bad smells proceeding from the drains underneath the Court House; and to a further incident reported as follows:—
When the jury was sworn one of the jurors complained of a great draught in the jury box.The Lord Chief Justice said the special jurors of Dublin should not be allowed to get the influenza, and ordered that the windows should be closed.One of the jurors tried to close the window near the jury box, but was unable to do so.The Lord Chief Justice: This is scandalous. This state of things is an outrage upon civilisation.If, considering that the most important business discharged at Green Street is the hearing of criminal causes, the Government will consider whether they cannot defray the whole cost of rebuilding what is practically a Government property; and if steps will be taken at once in that direction?
§ MR. JACKSONThe total cost for building a new Court House in substitution for the existing one at Green Street, Dublin, was estimated at £40,500. The Treasury, in 1883, agreed to contribute £13,500—i.e., one-third—the remainder to be borne in the proportions of one-third by the county and two-thirds by the city. In arriving at the conclusion that those were the most equitable proportions, the Lord Lieutenant and the Treasury had before them returns obtained from the Clerks of the Peace and of the Crown of cases entered for hearing at Green Street in the preceding five years. The Grand Jury on behalf of the County, and the Corporation on behalf of the City, accepted these proportions. I have no information enabling me to say how long the present Court House has been in existence. The Irish Government have observed the reports in the Press of the remarks of the learned Judge in regard to the discreditable condition of the present building. The hon. Member is under a misapprehension in describing this Court House as practically Government property. It is used as the Quarter Session Court House for the City of 881 Dublin, at which the Recorder sits for the hearing of a multitudinous class of cases, and it is also used for the sittings of the Commission of Oyer and Terminer for both the City and the County of Dublin—Commissions which are held frequently, and correspond to the Circuits of Assize in ordinary counties. I cannot hold out any hope of better terms being offered.
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)Has the right hon. Gentleman any objection to consider, so far as Crown business is concerned, which necessitates the attendance of jurors, whether the Government could not arrange that this should be transacted at the Four Courts, leaving the civil business to be done at Green Street?
§ MR. JACKSONI have no objection to consider the suggestion. I will communicate with Dublin, and ascertain if there is any possibility of this being done.
§ MR. SEXTONWill the right hon. Gentleman also consider whether it would not be likely to facilitate matters to withdraw the insult offered to the City of Dublin by restoring the name of the Lord Mayor to the Commission?
§ MR. JACKSONI am not aware that there is any insult in the matter.
MR. MAC NEILL (Donegal, S.)Will the right hon. Gentleman undertake that the name of the Lord Mayor of Dublin shall be restored to the Commission? For centuries the Chief Magistrate of Dublin had been included in the Commission of Oyer and Terminer, and withdrawing the name was an insult to the Corporation.
§ MR. JACKSONI am not aware of it, and I am not prepared to accept the construction put upon it by the hon. Member.