§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, (1) whether he is aware that the governor, deputy governor, clerk, storekeeper, and two-thirds of the entire staff of the Cork male prison are non-Roman Catholics, though 85 per cent. of the persons under their control are Roman Catholics; and, (2) whether the Prisons Board will endeavour to secure that at least one person holding a position of authority in the Cork prison is a Roman Catholic?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURIt is the fact that about 85 per cent. of the prisoners confined in Cork prison are Roman Catholics; and, as regards the prison staffs consisting in all of 25 persons, thirteen of these are Protestants and twelve Roman Catholics. The allocation of officials in the Prisons Service is not regulated by considerations of religion.
§ MR. MAURICE HEALYasked, whether the right hon. Gentleman would answer the second paragraph of his question?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURsaid, that he saw no reason to depart from the practice which had hitherto obtained, which as far as he was aware had not given any adequate grounds for complaint.