§ MR. O'DRISCOLLOn behalf of the hon. and learned Member for North Louth, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with regard to the fact that a yearly grant of £293 8s. 8d. is made by Government to the Royal Hospital for Incurables, Dublin, as to a professedly non-sectarian institution, is he aware that the chairman, vice-chairman, treasurer, registrar, resident medical officer, paid visiting physician, collector, lady superintendent, and assistant superintendent of the hospital are all Protestants; that no Catholic has been appointed to any of 678 those offices during the last 25 years; that no Catholic holds any paid office in the institution above the rank of servant; and that no Catholic has been appointed to any such office within the last 23 years; will the Government draw the attention of the Managing Committee of the Hospital to the exclusion of Catholics from all the chief offices of the institution; and is he also aware that 140 out of the 180 patients are Catholics, and that the following bequests by Catholics have been made to it in recent years—namely, the Mullins bequest of £1,000, the Banon bequest of £5,000, the Fallon bequest of £6,000, the Ryan bequest of £10,000, the Egan bequest, which brings in annually from £400 to £420, the Tharel bequest, which produces annually about £450, and others?
MR. J. MORLEYThe Royal Hospital for Incurables, Dublin, is a Corporation created by Letters Patent, and Government has no power to interfere in the selection or appointment of the officers of the institution. By my direction, however, a copy of the question was referred to the registrar of the hospital, and that gentleman has written a letter, from which I will read the following extract:—
The hospital was founded 150 years ago by a few Protestant gentlemen, and has ever since continued very much under Protestant management. The facts stated by the hon. Member for North Louth are generally correct, and the only explanation I can give for there being a greater number of Protestants than Roman Catholics in the management is that of the 486 ladies and gentlemen comprising the Board (each of whom by a contribution of 20 guineas or upwards has been constituted a life Governor), 334 are Protestants, and 152 are Roman Catholics. Each Governor has a vote, and uses it as he or she pleases, no one having the power to control the voting. The Protestants are largely in excess at most meetings of the Board, and I may observe that the chairman never allows politics or religion to be introduced. The hospital has been, and still is, one of the most prosperous and popular charities of the city. It contains 182 beds; at present there are 67 Protestant and 113 Roman Catholic patients in residence. Two of the medical men on the staff of the institution are Roman Catholics. The chairman and vice-chairman have been for some years Protestants, but their election, which is yearly, has invariably been moved or seconded by Roman Catholics. Four Governors are elected monthly for visiting the hospital, two being Roman Catholics and two Protestants.
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLDoes the right hon. Gentleman know that the hospital Sunday collection is confined in 679 Dublin to the Protestant churches, and that the funds collected are given to Hospitals having a large percentage of Roman Catholic patients? Is it not a fact that the Catholic churches do not join in the collecting the fund?
§ MR. SEXTONIs it not a fact that there is no Catholic doctor in this hospital, although three-fourths of the patients are Catholics and many of them in danger of death? Have not bequests to the amount of £22,000 been made to the hospital by Catholics, who also subscribe something like £1,000 towards its maintenance? Is it not in the power of the Government to advise the authorities of the institution to throw some of the appointments open to Catholics?
MR. J. MORLEYThe question of what powers exist in regard to a Corporation created by Letters Patent is one rather for the lawyers, and I am advised by the Law Officers of the Crown that the Government have no power to interfere in this case.