HC Deb 23 February 1899 vol 67 cc300-1
MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Irish Government will now give to the honourable Member for South Donegal the permission, which was refused to him last December, of perusing, for purposes of historic research, the documents in the Record Tower of Dublin Castle, with reference to the spies and informers of the period of the Insurrection of 1798 and the Union of 1800, and more especially the memoranda of Leonard MacNally and the briefs held by him in defending the Irish political prisoners of that period; and will the facilities for the perusal of these documents be given to the honourable Member for South Donegal which were granted without difficulty to the right honourable junior Member for Dublin University when writing the seventh and eighth volumes of his "History of England in the Eighteenth Century," and to Mr. Cæsar Falkiner, now an Assistant Land Commissioner, for the writing of a magazine article at a time when he was an officer of an Irish Unionist Association.

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

I have already informed the honourable and learned Member that his original application, which was refused, was one for permission to peruse "State Papers till the most recent date up to which, in any case, permission has been given to see such documents," that permission was not refused to him to inspect the documents referred to in the first paragraph, and that, as a matter of fact, he never applied for such permission. If the honourable Member will make an application in writing for permission to consult papers, stating particulars, giving definite periods, and showing the special subject upon which he seeks for information, then there can be no objection to afford him the same facilities as were afforded to the gentlemen named in the second paragraph.

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

Then why did the officials inform me that I could not see any document of a later date than 1790?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

No such information w*s conveyed to the honourable Member by my orders. We declined to give a general permission to sec documents of a later stage than anybody else.

MR. J. MORLEY (Montrose, etc.)

Are the documents not in the Record Office?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

Yes.

MR. J. MORLEY

Then they are not in your custody?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

I understand permission to see them has to be obtained from the Chief Secretary.

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

I went to the Record Office and only saw two papers after enormous trouble.