§ MR. NANNETTI (Dublin, College Green)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can explain why, whilst a charge of defalcations in accounts has been brought against the late Staff Officer of the Office of the Royal Irish Constabulary, Dublin Castle, extending over a period of four years, and his widow mulcted to the extent of over £400 out of the insurance accruing to the deceased officer, these accounts do not appear to have been audited in the Department of the Comptroller and Auditor-General, London, as is evidenced by the fact that his bank book had not been written up for some two or three years; and if the Government can see their way to refund the amount stopped to this officer's widow, in view of this accounting for expenditure of public money without accounts being properly audited.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) There is no foundation for the suggestion that the accounts of this officer were not properly audited. The accounts were supported by vouchers furnished by him, but some of these vouchers, which purported to be receipts for money, proved to be forgeries. In addition, the bank pass book relating to the account for which the deceased was accountable was cleverly falsified after it had been written up by the officials of the bank. The reply to the concluding inquiry is in the negative.