SECOND READING. (Hansard, 23 May 1892)

§ (12.2.) MR. JACKSON
I think there is a general opinion in favour of the Bill. The circumstances are known. The Bill has been reported upon by the Examiners.

§ (12.2.) MR. TIMOTHY HEALY
I do not object to the Second Reading of the Bill, but I do complain of the way in which the Government have dealt with this question. It should be dealt with as a whole. The Attorney General must know the miserable plight in which Infirmaries are throughout Ireland. Here in the case of Galway the Government propose a different system, not an ideal system by any means, but a decent system, by which Galway will get rid of the prevailing influence of the parsons in the management of the Infirmary, but in the South of Ireland we are crowded out by parsons on the Boards, because it is held that a section of the Church Act of 1869 does not affect the right of parsons to sit on these Boards. This decision was arrived at by the Irish Court of Appeal, three Judges reversing the decision of six Judges, four of the 1634 Queen's Bench Division, and two Judges who sit in the Court of Appeal. It is a great anomaly and a great evil that under an old statute of the Irish Parliament parsons should have this right which is denied to ministers of other religious denominations, Catholics, Presbyterians, or Methodists. There is an example in the Cork South Infirmary of this appropriation of the power by parsons on the Board, where reform is needed quite as much as in Galway. Why do not the Government make the alteration general? The Protestant Church, for good or ill, is disestablished in Ireland, and for good or ill all religious denominations are put upon an equality. Why, then, should a system be allowed to continue under which clergymen of the Protestant Church in Ireland are ex officio members of Infirmary Boards, while Catholics, Presbyterians and Salvation Army captains are excluded? It is a well-known scandal. I do not know that I should be in order in attempting to give the Bill a general application, but I must protest against the Government dealing with the matter in this partial manner.

§ MR. JOHNSTON
I must object to discussion being taken at this hour.

§ MR. T. M. HEALY
I do not object to Galway getting the advantage now; but it is a strange thing that the Government should leave the evil untouched in the rest of Ireland.

§ (12.7.) MR. PINKERTON (Galway)
I trust my hon. Friends will put some restraint on their rhetorical powers, and not prevent this Bill being passed for Galway. It is not possible upon this Bill to extend the provisions to the rest of Ireland.