§ MR. KENNEDY () Westmeath, N.To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, seeing that the county gaol at Mullingar has been closed for general prison purposes for more than twelve months, he will direct the General Prisons Board to hand over these premises to the County Council of Westmeath for the purposes of technical instruction or for the establishment of an inebriates' home or other local purposes, subject to such reservations to the General Prisons Board as were required in the case of the county gaol at Trim on its being handed over to the Boards of Guardians of the County Meath for the purposes of an industrial school.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The prison at Mullingar was closed as a prison on the 31st December, 1901. It is now used as a place of detention 648 for prisoners awaiting trial, and so long as it continues to be so used, the property in and control over the buildings will remain vested in the General Prisons Board. I regret I cannot at present hold out any hope that the buildings, or any portion of them, will be surrendered to the local authorities.