§ CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)1 beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he can state the number of men at present serving in the Royal Irish Constabulary who are registered as Presbyterians, and how many of these are quartered at stations where no Presbyterian places of worship is within reach; and whether he can also state the respective numbers of Episcopalian and Presbyterian Head Constables who have been promoted to the rank of District Inspector during the past three years?
MR. J. MORLEYThe number of Presbyterians in the Constabulary on January 1 last (which is the most recent information upon the subject now in possession) was as follows:—Head constables, 10; sergeants, 103; acting sergeants, 30; constables, 425; total, 568. It is a rule of the Service that a man shall not, if it can be avoided, be kept at a remote station where he is not within a reasonable distance of his place of worship longer than 12 months, and officers are instructed to call attention to such cases in order that any disadvantage under which individual policemen might labour in this matter might be remedied by removal to some other locality. The Inspector General is not aware that this rule has been infringed in any case; but if it should be so, the case would receive attention upon its being made known. Within the last three years four Protestant head constables have been promoted to 15 the rank of District Inspector. Of these one was a Presbyterian and the other three were Protestants of other denominations.