HC Deb 21 February 1895 vol 30 c1241
MR. W.H. K. REDMOND (Clare,E.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he will order an inquiry into the charges made against certain officials in Ireland by John Twiss, who was recently executed in Cork Prison.

MR. J. MORLEY

The charges made by the convict Twiss were confined to imputations made against District Inspector Irwin. They were made at the trial in the hearing of the Chief Baron, who subsequently said, in sentencing Twiss, that he agreed in the conclusion at which the jury had arrived. The officials, including the Governor and Deputy Governor of the prison, wholly repudiate charges which rest solely on the uncorroborated imputations of the convict. No ground whatever exists for ordering an inquiry.

MR. W. REDMOND

Might I ask whether, in view of the very widespread feeling in regard to this matter, it would not be satisfactory to have an inquiry into these charges, so that they could be officially proved or disproved once for all, and so set the public mind at rest over this matter?

MR. J. MORLEY

My own very deliberate opinion is, that the public mind will very soon set itself at rest on the question: but, however that may be, I do not consider the existence of an unjust and ungrounded feeling in the public mind as any reason why I should make an inquiry.

MR. W. REDMOND

said, the right hon. Gentleman's reply would not be received with satisfaction.