§ MR. HAYDEN (Roscommon, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a man named Michael Rattigan, of Benmore, Clonfad, county Roscommon, has complained that on the evening of the 17th of March last, near Dunmore, in county Galway, he was assaulted by a constable of the Royal Irish Constabulary and rendered unconscious by a baton stroke, that his 392 assailant was in the company of Sergeant Kirby and two other constables, that whilst unconscious he was conveyed to the police barracks where he was attended by a doctor, but he is still under medical treatment, that he had been visited at his home by the district inspector, and that he and his father were refused any information by the district inspector and sergeant as to the name of the constable who struck him; and, if so, will he say whether there has been any investigation into the matter, and, if so, with what result, and whether the name of the constable will be supplied and a prosecution instituted.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThis man was found lying unconscious on the road by Sergeant Kirby and three constables. He soon became conscious, and, for his own protection, was brought to the barracks and allowed to sit at the kitchen fire till the following morning when he was taken away. No doctor attended him at the barracks, but I believe he visited a doctor afterwards. Rattigan made no complaint of having been assaulted by the police. He made an information in which he swore he does not remember having been struck by any person. The county and district inspectors were unable to procure any evidence of identification. The only mark upon him, when found, was a slight abrasion at the back of the head, which, in the opinion of the doctor, was caused by a fall. It is of course open to Rattigan to proceed against the police, but no evidence is forthcoming to enable the authorities to institute proceedings as suggested.