HC Deb 27 June 1898 vol 60 c211
MR. S. YOUNG (Cavan, E.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Belfast is the only part in Ireland in which civilians or policemen personally injured by riotous mobs are unable to obtain compensation; and whether, in view of the fact that the Royal Commission which inquired into the Belfast riots of 1886 strongly recommended that some means should be found of awarding compensation in such cases, and that the Local Government Bill now before the House proposes to remedy the grievance, he will see that those injured during the recent riots are compensated either by making the clause in the Local Government Bill retrospective, or by some other means?

MR. MACALEESE (Monaghan, N.)

I beg also to ask the Attorney General for Ireland, is it the intention of the Government to make retrospective the clause of the Local Government (Ireland) Bill dealing with compensation for personal injuries, to cover the case of those police constables who were so seriously assaulted in the late Belfast riots?

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.

On the Report stage of the Local Government (Ireland) Bill the Government will move Amendments applying the provisions of the Grand Jury Acts on this point to all parts of Ireland, but it is not intended to make the Amendments retrospective in their operation. This answer will cover my reply to the Question standing in the name of the honourable Member for North Monaghan.