§ MR. NANNETTI (Dublin, College Green)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, having regard to the fact that, under the provisions of Section 28 (B) of the Municipal Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Practices) Act of 1884 applied to Irish local governmnent elections under the Act of 1898, the Attorney General for Ireland is bound to be represented at the trial of a municipal election petition by a barrister or solicitor of not less than ten years standing, will he state whether the barrister who, at the hearing of the recent election petitions in Arran Quay Ward, Dublin, where corrupt practices were alleged on both sides, represented the Attorney General is a barrister of ten years standing.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe hon. Member is under a misapprehension. The Act of Parliament was strictly complied with. The Chief Crown Solicitor, Sir Patrick Coll, a solicitor of much more than ten years standing, appeared for and represented the Attorney General at the hearing of the Petition. Owing to the many demands, however, on Sir Patrick Coil's time, it is sometimes necessary for him to instruct counsel to assist him, and in such cases the selection of the counsel rests with him. To the counsel so selected the provisions as to standing have no application. Nothing, however, will thereby be added to the liability of the County Council, as the proper and usual legal cost and expenses will only be charged against them.
§ MR. DILLONI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that twice within the last few weeks the Solicitor General for Ireland has been absent from Ireland and has failed to discharge the duties of his office in that country owing to his appearance as counsel before Committees of the House of Commons; and, seeing that Law Officers of the Crown in England, having regard to their position as Ministers of the Crown, do not appear before such Committees, even when they do not sit for constituencies in the House of Commons, will steps be taken to assimilate in this respect the practice regulating the conduct of the Law Officers of the Crown in Ireland to the practice in England.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe Solicitor General for Ireland, unlike the Solicitor General for England, is permitted to take private practice. I cannot admit that he has failed to discharge his duties, but it is true that on one occasion he, owing to an unforeseen clashing of dates, appeared in England whilst a case for the Crown was proceeding in Ireland. The selection of private cases in which he may elect to appear rests within the discretion of the Solicitor General. I am sure that in exercising that discretion he will in future avoid even the appearance of conflict between his private practice and public duties. It is not proposed to assimilate the conditions of tenure and salary of this office to those of the Solicitor General for England.
§ MR. DILLONI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the case of R. v. Lynam, in which an application was made on the part of the Crown to the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in Ireland that the defendant should give bail to be of good behaviour, and to the comments of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland on the absence of both the Law Officers of the Crown; whether he is aware that Mr. Solicitor General for Ireland, who, according to practice, represents Mr. Attorney General for Ireland in Crown cases in which that official is unavoidably absent, was, at the time of the hearing of the case mentioned, engaged as counsel in his private capacity before a Committee of the House of Commons; and whether the Irish Government will in future direct that the primary attention of the Law Officers of the Crown in Ireland should be devoted to the duties of their offices.
§ MR. WYNDHAMYes, Sir. That is the case to which I referred in reply to the previous Question. I cannot accept the version given of the Lord Chief Justice's remark. There is no occasion for, or need of, the direction suggested.