§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in the new rules which he has issued for regulating the execution of capital sentences in Ireland, the rule which requires that the executioners shall remain in the prison after the execution, and until permission is given them to leave, is intended to give power to the sheriff, the coroner, or the governor, or to any other person, and, if so, to whom, to detain the executioners for attendance at the inquest should their presence be required by the coroner; and, if not, whether, in view of the fact that executioners on two occasions in Cork disregarded the summons of the coroner to appear and give evidence, he will see that powers are given the coroners to detain executioners and compel them to give evidence if required.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThese rules are identical in all respects with the rules which obtain in this country. I see no reason for enlarging their scope. The coroner is the only person who can compel an executioner to appear at an inquest, but, under paragraph 5 of the rules, he can be held at the disposal of the coroner by the prison governor.
§ * MR. DELANYWill the right hon. Gentleman say if he proposes to hang many Irish Members?
§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIENIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that in two cases in Cork, although the coroner desired the attendance of the executioner, the sheriff had sent him away to England, and he refused to come back? Seeing that the law has not been carried out, and that there is no record of how the convicts died, will the right hon. Gentleman at least give us some guarantee that unfortunate people are not executed with undue severity?
§ MR. WYNDHAMI do not think there is any need to make a special rule for Irish coroners which does not apply to English coroners.