§ MR. S. YOUNGOn behalf of the hon. Member for South Down (MR. MCCAETAN), I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the inquest on the body of Elizabeth Monaghan, who died in the lunatic department of Belfast Workhouse on the 18th inst.; whether he is aware that the father of the deceased proved at the inquest that in 1891, when the child was only ten years old, being of sound mind but subject to epileptic fits, she was on the line of a relieving officer sent to the workhouse, and as an epileptic she was sent to the lunatic department; that there were no signs of insanity for two years after her admission to the lunatic department, and then her mind gave way; that the workhouse doctor swore there was no notice that she was insane, and that it was possible for lunatics who were not epileptic to get into the room where this girl was; and that the verdict of the jury condemned the practice of sending a simple epileptic into the lunatic ward, and held that such treatment contributed to her death; and 1037 whether he will have full inquiry made into this ease, and also into the treatment of epileptics generally in workhouses in Ireland?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI have received reports in reference to the inquest on the body of this girl, but as they do not afford a perfectly clear account of the system of treatment pursued of patients suffering from epilepsy in the Belfast Workhouse, I have considered it desirable to make some further inquiries into the matter, and when the result of these further inquiries is before me I will consider the question of investigating the treatment of epileptics generally in Workhouses in Ireland.