HC Deb 30 June 1896 vol 42 cc380-4

On the Order for the consideration of the Pier and Harbour Provisional Orders (No. 4) Bill,

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.) moved to leave out the Order relating to Killybegs. He said he did so in order to point attention to the improper constitution of the Pier and Harbour Commissioners in reference to Killybegs and to the gross breach of faith with the people of his own constituency on the part, not of the Irish Government, but of the Irish Customs. What occurred was this. Some few years ago the Donegal Railway, which was to come down to the very foreshore of Killybegs, was built. The fishermen of Killybegs had foreshore rights. An arrangement was made that these rights should be conceded to the railway company, it being arranged that when the pier was made and Harbour Commissioners appointed, the people of Killybegs should have representation upon it. At length, after seven years' agitation, the harbour and pier at Killybegs were placed on a fair basis of construction, and for this he was bound to give the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary very great credit. At a meeting of the inhabitants of Killybegs resolutions were passed suggesting that the proposed Harbour Board should consist of seven members, of whom three should represent the Congested Districts Board, two the Donegal Railway Company, and two the people at large. The Donegal Railway Company were also represented at that meeting. A deputation from the meeting waited on the Congested Districts Board, and three gentlemen representing the Donegal Railway Company went with them. At this conference, which was attended by the Chief Secretary, an understanding was arrived at by which the Har- bour Board was to be constituted by three members representing the Congested Districts Board, two representing the Donegal Railway Company, and two representing the people. Under the Provisional Order the right hon. Gentleman appointed the first set of Commissioners, for a term of three years, the members subsequently being elected by voting on the Parliamentary franchise. The right hon. Gentleman appointed the Rev. Michael Martin, the parish priest of Killybegs, and Mr. Arthur Brooke as representing the people. Though Mr. Brooke was antagonistic to the interests of the people, inasmuch as he was a director of the Donegal Railway, no protest was made against his appointment, the people considering that their interests were safe in the hands of Father Martin. Father Martin, though he had the interests of the people at heart, was not a man of Nationalist sympathies, but of course the right hon. Gentleman would not admit that that was the reason why he was appointed to the Board, while his successor who was a Nationalist, was passed over. Father Martin died, and in his stead the Coastguard officer of Killybegs station was appointed. This gentleman did not own one inch of land at Killybegs; he was only temporarily in the locality, and he was liable to be removed at any moment. He asked was it not scandalous that this appointment should be made as representing the people. Though he was not instructed to say this, he regarded the passing over of Father Martin's successor was an insult to him. It was most important to the people that they should be properly represented on the Harbour Board, because the interests of the railway company were antagonistic to the interests of the people, and attempts might be made to create such harbour dues as would tend to bring goods over the railway rather than over the sea, and Mr. Brooke, one of the two gentlemen already appointed, was a director of the railway company. He merely wished to give a plain statement of the facts without indulging in any vituperation. The Chief Secretary had placed himself too unreservedly in the hands of the officials. Had he investigated the affair himself, he would not have permitted this "job" to have been committed against the rights of the people. In the words of those on the spot, the harbour at Killybegs was not a blessing but a curse. Persons had been appointed to represent Killybegs on the Harbour Commission who were quite out of place, and their appointment was an insult to the people. There was not an example to be found of a naval officer being appointed to represent people in the locality in which he was to exercise his profession. Popular representation by such a man was simply an absurdity. It was an insult to the new parish priest that he was not appointed a Commissioner in the place of his predecessor. Parish priests in Ireland represented the people in a way which was almost inconceivable in England. Killybegs was a very important parish, and the priest was appointed for his special suitability and knowledge of the locality. He had been passed over for a Coastguard officer, and this was the unionist idea of killing Home Rule by kindness. If something was not done, the Chief Secretary would regret the bad feeling and bad blood this mean, cowardly, paltry act had caused.

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

said the only objection taken by the hon. Member had been to the personnel of the Harbour Board. For that the Irish Government was responsible, and not the Castle officials, as suggested by the hon. and learned Member. The people of Killybegs did not contribute a penny towards the harbour, and when the Harbour Board was constituted it was never suggested that the locality should be represented. When the Provisional Order was drafted, it became necessary to reconsider the constitution of the Board. Father Martin and Mr. Arthur Brooke were appointed to represent Killybegs. Father Martin died, and it became necessary to fill his place. Various sections of the inhabitants of Killybegs had their own nominee, and the Government were placed in some difficulty. They concluded that it would be better to appoint some one independent of all these sections, and whose professional knowledge would be useful during the construction of the harbour. The fact that Father Martin's successor was not appointed in his place was at the bottom of the discontent to which the hon. Member had given expression. Father Martin was not appointed a harbour master because he was parish priest. He took the deepest interest in the project, and it was only fitting that when it was carried out he should be appointed a Harbour Commissioner. But the position was not an appanage to that of priest, and whatever claims Father Martin had, they did not descend to his successor. As regarded the charge against Mr. Brooke, that he represented the interests of the railway company on the Commission, it was a fact that he was a director of the company, but he merely represented the interests of certain ratepayers. He was the agent of the owner of Killybegs, and, of course, had a large interest in the prosperity of the place. He thought Mr. Brooke was a very fitting representative. Perhaps the hon. Member would not press this to a Division. If the Government accepted his Motion, he would be placed in a disagreeable position, because Killybegs would lose its harbour, and the Treasury would be £6,000 or £7,000 to the good. In that event he believed the hon. Member would find that the indignation of the people of Killybegs, which he said was now directed against the Government, would be directed against him and his excess of misdirected zeal.

MR. JOHN DILLON () Mayo, E.

said if they accepted the statement of the Chief Secretary it showed a remarkable want of wisdom on the part of the Irish Government. While he felt the force of the observation of the right hon. Gentleman as to the position in which they would be placed as the result of defeating the Bill, he thought the Government were very much to blame for not having satisfied everybody by appointing the present parish priest to succeed Father Martin. Supposing it did become a precedent to appoint the resident priest, so much the better. The Government ought to aim at that and be glad to get the clergymen of any denomination to take an interest in the material welfare of the district in which they resided. The parish priests in Donegal had always taken a very active part in promoting the welfare of these poverty-stricken parts. In the Bill they were now discussing, there was a provision that on the Harbour Board the people of Killybegs should have two representatives, and those two representatives were to be elected in public meeting by the Parliamentary electors. Now would it not be the rational and common thing for the Government to do to satisfy the people by the appointment in the first instance of very much the same class of men who would be elected by the people if they had the power? The Government had selected two men who they must know had not the slightest chance of being elected by the people. That was not consistent with the spirit of the undertaking contained in the Provisional Order. In cases of this kind they were always met by the argument that these matters were gifts, and that the people contributed nothing towards them. Moneys contributed for these purposes were not gifts from the Imperial Treasury. They were contributed by the Irish taxpayers, and in getting these grants Ireland did not get anything like her proportion of the enormous over taxation from which she suffered. [Irish cheers.] He considered that the appointment of the parish priest on this Board would have the effect of smoothing its working, and he suggested that the Chief Secretary should even give a promise that the parish priest or some popular representative would be placed on the Board before the year was out.

MR. WILLIAM REDMOND () Clare, E.

sympathised with the observations of the hon. Member for Donegal; but believed that while the people wished popular representation on the Harbour Board, they wished the harbour itself still more. He therefore hoped hon. Members would do nothing to jeopardise the scheme. It was true that this was Irish money, but when they found a move in the right direction no obstacle ought to be put in the way. His objection was that the Government had not carried out this policy more extensively in other parts of Ireland.

Question, "That the Order relating to Killybegs stand part of the Bill," put and agreed to.

Bill to be read the Third time Tomorrow