§ MR. JOHN O'DONNELLTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether in view of the fact that the tenants on a small property known as Island, near Ballyhaunis, county Mayo, have been for many years using a passage across a grazing farm in that townland for the purpose of carrying home fuel, that they have been prevented for the past two years by the grazier who now holds it, who was assisted by the constabulary in preventing the people from using this passage, and that there is a dispute about the pathway in question, he will give instructions to the police not to further interfere until the case is disposed of by a Court of law.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The police were not present on the occasions mentioned for the purpose suggested in the Question, but solely for the prevention of a breach of the public peace. This is a duty which it is incumbent upon them to discharge irrespectively of the existence of a dispute between the parties in respect of an alleged right of way.