§ MR. DAVITT (Mayo, S.)I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland whether he is aware that certain grand juries omitted to nominate representatives for the county councils at the recent Spring Assizes in Ireland; and whether, in view of clause 113 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, which specifies that such nominations must be made at the first Spring Assizes following the passing of that Measure, members of the grand jury class have been selected, since the assizes in question were held, without the terms of clause 113 having been complied with; and, in the event of such having been the case, whether such persons so nominated are legally qualified to fulfil the duties of county councillor?
§ THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON, Londonderry, N.)My attention has not been called, officially, to the omission mentioned. The intention of the Government was that these representatives should be nominated either by the grand jury itself at the Spring Assizes, or be nominated then or at any time before the first meeting of the council by a committee appointed by the grand jury at the Spring Assizes for that purpose, and we believed that this had been adequately provided for in the section referred to. Some doubts, have, I believe, been expressed as to whether the language of the Statute carries out the object of the framers of the Act, but I am not aware that the point has been made the subject of judicial decision.