§ MR. TULLYI beg to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland whether he can state how many Roman Catholic jurors were ordered by the Crown to stand aside at the trial, on Tuesday last, of Mr. Denis Kilbride, on a charge of inciting to murder, at the winter assizes held in Maryborough; how many Roman Catholics were on the jury that convicted in this case; and what were the instructions given to the Crown Solicitor as to challenging of the jurors on this occasion.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.I have no definite official information which would enable me to reply to the first and second queries contained in this Question, since, as directed by the circular of February, 1894, no inquiry is made into the religions of jurors, no record kept of their religious opinions, and no action taken by the Crown in reference to jurors on account of them. The Crown Solicitor, however, reports to me that he set aside with equal impartiality every juror who, from prejudice either for or against the prisoner, he had reason to believe would not have given a fair and impartial verdict on the evidence, and further that he has since been informed and believes that of the 221 jurors on the panel one-fifth were Protestants and four-fifths Roman Catholics, while out of the forty-six jurors ordered to stand aside over one-fourth, namely twelve, were Protestants. As to the last query, no instructions other than those contained in the above circular were given to the Crown Solicitor.
§ MR. ATKINSONDr. Todd.
§ MR. ATKINSONNo.