HC Deb 26 January 1897 vol 45 c511
MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, seeing that the members of the Royal Irish Constabulary in the cities of Londonderry, Cork, Waterford, and Belfast, have numbers on their uniforms, he will explain what reason there is against the wearing of numbers by members of the Royal Irish Constabulary both in the cities and the country with a view to their identification as a security against crime and outrage?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

The hon. Member has raised this question on previous occasions in the House, and I have nothing to add to the explanations repeatedly given, both by myself and by my predecessors. I must, however, enter an emphatic protest against the last words of the question as conveying an imputation wholly undeserved and unwarranted against a most exemplary body of men. [Cheers.]

MR. MACNEILL

I beg to give notice that I shall bring forward this question on the Estimates, and that I shall deal with it at a generous and reasonable length. [Laughter.]