§ MR. C. DIAMOND (Monaghan, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a trial at the recent Monaghan Assizes, where two Orangemen, named Doherty arid Burrows, were charged with criminal assaults on two Roman Catholic little children; whether the Roman Catholic populalation of Monaghan is more than half; what number of Catholics were, on the jury that tried the case referred to; whether he is aware that several jurors, especially a man named Sivan, who was foreman, were repeatedly called to order and rebuked by the learned counsel representing the Crown for intimidation of the children while giving their evidence; and whether, in the interests of justice, it could be arranged that, where all those responsible for the empanelling of a jury are of a particular denomination, some further safeguards may be imposed so that the fairness of the panel may be placed beyond suspicion?
MR. J. MORLEYThe Crown Solicitor informs me that one of the defendants in the case in question was convicted and sentenced to four months, imprisonment with hard labour, and that there was nothing whatever of a religious or party feeling in the case. The Crown Solicitor also states that none of the jurors were called to order or rebuked by the Judge, as alleged. The police state that the jury consisted of 10 Protestants and two Roman Catholics. Two jurors were ordered by the Crown Solicitor to stand by, and the prisoners' solicitor challenged five. The Crown Solicitor, 1698 in ordering jurors to stand by, did so under positive directions to order no one to stand by on the ground of politics or religion.
§ MR. DIAMONDIs it not remarkable that in a district where the population is about equally divided, the numbers on the jury should be 10 to 2, and the 10 belonging to the same religion as the prisoners?
MR. J. MORLEYThe Crown Solicitor assures me he was unaware of the religion of the jurors until this question was put on the Paper and caused him to make inquiry. The Solicitor for the prisoners is a Roman Catholic.