§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a letter from the Rev. A. L. Ford, of Bessbrook, County Armagh, in The Belfast News Letter, dated the 7th instant, referring to the visit of Cardinal Logue to Dundalk, in which he states that a journeyman baker, a Protestant and an Orangeman, had been ordered to march in the procession behind the Roman Cardinal, and that, on his refusal, he was first threatened with dismissal and then dismissed; that, although after a few days he was taken back again, he was so treated that he was obliged to leave again immediately; and whether the police authorities have made any report upon this case?
MR. T. M. HEALYAs this refers to a gentleman in my constituency who is greatly aggrieved by the libel on himself, I will ask the permission of the House to read three or four sentences from a letter—
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLOn a point of Order, should not the Chief Secretary first answer the question?
§ *MR. SPEAKERYes, that would be the proper course.
MR. T. M. HEALYThen I will ask the right hon. Gentleman if he has received a letter from the person complained of in the following terms:—
The man referred to as having been dismissed for refusing to join a procession in honour of a minister of an alien faith was dismissed from our employment for drunkenness two days previously to the date of Cardinal Logue's procession"?
MR. J. MORLEYThe hon. Member for South Tyrone and the rev. gentleman named in the question have been curiously misinformed, and my hon. Friend who interposed is perfectly right. The journeyman baker, a Protestant—whether he is an Orangeman I do not know—and who is further described by the rev. correspondent as a "pledged teetotaler," was dismissed from his employment in Dundalk on the 21st March for drunkenness. This could have no connection with the visit of a "Roman Cardinal of an alien Church," because it took place two days before the Cardinal's arrival in the town.