§ CAPTAIN DONELANI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether Head Constable Roe of Queenstown, who has just passed his examination for the position of district inspector, is the same police officer who was officially reprimanded for his conduct in connection with a case of perjury tried before Lord Justice Holmes at the Cork Summer Assizes, 1896; and, if so, whether, in view of the charge of Lord Justice Holmes upon that occasion, it is intended to promote this police officer to the rank of district inspector?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe circumstances under which an official reprimand was conveyed to this officer were fully explained by me in answer to the honourable and learned Member for North Louth on the 31st July, 1896, and 2nd July last year. On the latter date I stated that in consequence of Mr. Roe's action in the case mentioned he had been deprived of the opportunity of competing for promotion to the rank of district inspector at an examination held in 1896, that it was considered that he had been sufficiently punished by this deprivation, and that his advancement would not be further retarded. Mr. Roe has since maintained a character 1373 for marked efficiency and good conduct, and there was no reason why his promotion should be any further delayed. He now holds the rank of district inspector.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANIs it not the case that the evidence proved that this head constable was implicated in the discreditable case referred to in the Question?
§ MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! The Question has 0been fully answered, and the honourable Member is not entitled to argue upon it.