§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that on the piece of land recently taken by the War Office for the construction of a rifle range at Finner, county Donegal, a cairn of great antiquity, which is held in great veneration by the people of the district, and is believed to contain the ashes of some Irish chiefs, is being demolished and the material used in the construction of the range; and, whether, as this cairn stands on the highest part of the lands and would not in any way interfere with its use, and as the necessary material can be got elsewhere in the neighbourhood, he will instruct the military authorities to stop further demolition of the cairn?
THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. J. POWELL-WILLIAMS,) Birmingham, S.A report has now been received from Finner, and it appears that there is no cairn at all on the range, but a natural limestone formation from which some twelve cubic yards of loose stones were taken. It is added that there is in the neighbourhood a small cromlech known as Muldoon's grave which is an object of local veneration. This is 100 yards from the supposed cairn, and has not been touched.