§ MR. MACALEESEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with reference to the report recently received by the secretary to the Irish Prisons Board, stating that two youths named Maguire, under detention on a charge of murder, were marched on the 18th July through the streets of Omagh handcuffed to each other, it being market-day and the streets lined with crowds of people, who cheered and groaned, making a most unseemly demonstration, what notice has the Prisons Board taken of this matter?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURMy right hon. Friend the Attorney General, when replying to questions put to him on the 23rd and 31st July, stated that there was no foundation for the allegation that these two prisoners had been marched from the gaol to the Courthouse on the date mentioned, but that they had been conveyed in the prison van in accordance with the usual practice. I am now informed, however, that the statement is correct, though I have no information as to whether any unseemly demonstration took place in the streets on the occasion. I am making full inquiry into the whole matter. The chief warder at the prison sent the prisoners to the Courthouse in charge of a police escort in consequence of the late arrival of the contractor who horses the prison van.