§ MR. DUFFY (Galway, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he will state how many policemen are at present quartered in the town hall, Loughrea; is he aware that the building, which preceded the present town hall, known as the Loughrea Linen Hall, was the property of the people of the town and used by them as a market house, and demolished by the father of the present Lord Clanricarde, on a pledge to build a capacious hall for the benefit of his tenants in the town and district; is he aware that, though the building has been in existence for over thirty years, the present Lord Clanricarde refuses to allow either the Town Commissioners or the townspeople to have any connection with the town hall; and having regard to the fact that the town hall at the present time is being used as a place of shelter for the police and at times hired out by the agent for itinerant shows, while the Town Commissioners require it urgently in the interest of the townspeople, whether he will add a new clause to the Town Tenants Bill, enabling the Town Commissioners of Loughrea to come into possession of their own town hall, either as a yearly tenant or purchaser.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) I am informed by the police authorities that sixty policemen are at present quartered in the building known as the town hall, at Loughrea. This building appears to be the property of Lord Clanricarde, but I have no information whatever as to the circumstances under which it was erected. The meetings of the town commissioners and of their successors, the urban district council, have, I am informed, been held elsewhere than in the town hall for many years past. The hon. Member's suggestion that the Government should introduce into a Bill, and indeed, a private Member's Bill, altering the general law, such a clause as is suggested, dealing with a particular building, does not appear to be practicable.