THE LORD MAYOR OF THE DUBLIN,accompanied by several of the members and officers of the Corporation of Dublin, attended at the Bar of the House to present the petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and the Burgesses of Dublin in favour of a revision of the financial relations between England and Ireland. On taking his place at the Bar of the House the Lord Major of Dublin was loudly cheered by the Irish Members.
§ MR. SPEAKERMy Lord Mayor of Dublin, what have you there?
THE LORD MAYOR OF DUBLINA petition, Sir, to the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled from the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and the Burgesses of Dublin, which showeth—
That, under the Treaty of the Union between the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, a constitutional right is guaranteed to Ireland to have her circumstances specially considered in reference to the imposition of taxation by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and to the incidence of such taxation; that this right has been constantly and continuously insisted upon in Parliament by the representatives of Ireland of all political parties since the Union; that the final Report of Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed by Royal Warrant of May 26 1894, to inquire into the financial relations of Great Britain and Ireland establishes, nevertheless, the fact that, whilst the actual tax revenue of Ireland is about 1–11th of that of Great Britain, the relative taxable capacity of Ireland is very much smaller, and is not estimated by any of the Commissioners as exceeding 1–20th, and consequently Ireland is now taxed to an amount of between two-and-a-half and three million pounds per annum in excess of her proper proportion"—["hear, hear!"]—that this grave injustice to Ireland, as further appears from the said Report, has been brought about not only by the imposition of a financial burden at the time of the Union which, as events showed, she was unable to bear, but, by a serious addition to that burden in 1853 and several succeeding years, which was not justified by the circumstances of Ireland, but which, nevertheless, has been continued and even increased since that time"—["hear, hear!"]—that this burden of excessive taxation has seriously injured, and is seriously injuring, the material interests of Ireland, and has contributed in no small degree to retard her commercial progress and prevent her industrial development, and that, so long as it exists, it must continue to have that result and to constitute a grave national grievance affecting all classes of the Irish population; that your petitioners feel confident that ill laying these views before your honourable House they are giving expression to convictions firmly held, and well nigh universally entertained, by the citizens of Dublin. Your petitioners therefore pray that your honourable House will take into consideration the grievance disclosed by the said Report, and will, at an early date, adopt such measures as justice may dictate to redress that grievance and to alleviate its effects.