HC Deb 16 July 1901 vol 97 cc597-9
* MR. O'SHEE (Waterford, W.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Mr. Stephen Ronan, K.C, is Senior Crown Prosecutor for the county and not for the city of Cork, and that Sir Francis Brady, K.C., is Senior Crown Prosecutor for the city of Cork; can he explain how the fact that Mr. Ronan being unable to accept his briefs for the Crown at the coming Cork Assizes renders it necessary that Mr. Seymour Bushe, K.C, should be retained by the Crown to prosecute in the Tallow case at the city of Cork Assizes; and as the Crown do not consider the case a serious one, will the question of leaving it in the hands of the Senior and Junior Crown Prosecutors be considered with a view to the saving of the expense involved in the special retainer of Mr. Seymour Bushe, K.C., for the Crown.

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

At the request of my right hon. friend, I will reply to this question. The selection of counsel to represent the Crown in Ireland in any given case is absolutely in my discretion. If the hon. Member disapproves of the manner in which I have on any occasion exercised that discretion, he can bring the matter up on the Estimates. I must decline, however, while a prosecution is pending, to discuss in the form of question and answer the propriety of its exercise in reference to that prosecution, Inasmuch as it would necessarily involve expressions of opinions on the merits of the pending case. I have already informed the hon. Member that no additional cost will be incurred by the retaining of Mr. Bushe.

* MR. O'SHEE

As Mr. Ronan is not Crown Prosecutor for the city of Cork, but for the county, why did his absence render it necessary to bring in Mr. Bushe?

MR. ATKINSON

Had he been able to be there he would have conducted the prosecution.

* MR. O'SHEE

But why brief Mr. Bushe when Sir Francis Brady, who is the regular Crown Prosecutor for the city of Cork, is available?

MR. ATKINSON

I have a right to direct whom I like to be briefed, and I decline to answer any question on the point.

* MR. O'SHEE

rose to put another question.

* MR. SPEAKER

Order, order! The right hon. Gentleman has positively declined to discuss his reasons for appointing a particular counsel.

* MR. O'SHEE

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that, since his election to the chairmanship of the Waterford County Council, Mr. Patrick F. Walsh, of Tallow, county Waterford, called with his solicitor at the Crown and Hanaper Office, Dublin, and were, Informed by the official in charge that he could not issue the necessary papers for the Commission of the Peace to Mr. Walsh because, as he stated, he saw in the newspapers that a prosecution was pending against Mr. Walsh; and also at the same time that he withheld the papers referred to of his own accord, and without any direction from the Lord Chancellor; and whether he will take steps that the statutory obligation to issue a writ of dedimus to the chairman of a county council, on the tender of the necessary fees, may be forthwith complied with.

* MR. WYNDHAM

I have no official cognizance of the matters alleged in the first paragraph, nor have I any jurisdiction to act in the manner suggested in. the second paragraph.

* MR. O'SHEE

Will the right hon. Gentleman inquire whether the facts alleged in the question are true?

* MR. WYNDHAM

I doubt very much if the Lord Chancellor is under any statutory obligation. If he is, no doubt there are means of enforcing it.

* MR. O'SHEE

But why should he prejudge Mr. Walsh before he has been proved guilty?

* MR. WYNDHAM

I have no doubt the Lord Chancellor will have cognizance of the fact that this question has been asked. It is not one with which I can deal. I do not think it right that the Executive should interfere in purely judicial matters.

CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)

Is it not a legal axiom that a man is assumed to be innocent until he is proved to be guilty?

* MR. O'SHEE

Is not the Lord Chancellor a member of the Executive Government?

[No answer was returned.]