§ MR. SHEEHY (Galway, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the case of a police constable stationed at Athenry, who was charged last April with being drunk while under medical treatment, and against whom the charge has been again renewed, the doctor who attended the constable having since died; is he aware that it transpired at the inquiry that a statement made by the accused to the Inspector General was suppressed; can he state by whom this statement was suppressed; is he also aware that it was shown that the Head Constable induced certain shopkeepers to at once send their accounts to the accused, it being represented to them that the accused was about to be reduced and removed; and whether he will cause inquiries to be made into the case?
MR. J. MORLEYThe question appears to relate to a constable named Lally, who was recently tried by a Constabulary Court of Inquiry on several charges, including one of drunkenness, in respect of all of which he was found guilty. I am informed that the entire circumstances of the case were fully in- 1063 quired into, and that all the papers, including the statement alleged to have been suppressed, were before the Court, by whom it was submitted to the Inspector General. The alleged misconduct of the Head Constable was also inquired into, and the Court were of opinion that he had only done his duty. The Inspector General considers that the constable has been dealt with leniently, and there appears to be no sufficient grounds for re-opening his case.