§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that in the cities of Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Belfast the members of the Royal Irish Constabulary who perform the duties of policemen in those cities have numbers on their uniforms for the purpose of identification; that although the Royal Irish Constabulary in the cities have numbers on their uniforms, the constabulary in country districts do not wear numbers on their uniforms; and that the constabulary in the cities, when drafted even for a few hours into country districts, have the numbers removed from their uniforms; what is 312 the reason that the means for identification of a policeman by the wearing of a number on his uniform should be afforded to the inhabitants of the Irish cities and denied to the inhabitants of the Irish country districts; and whether, having regard to the frequency of the cases in which members of the Irish Constabulary have refused to give their names when required so to do by persons desiring to complain of their conduct, and the difficulty of identifying them by reason of their uniform, steps will be taken to provide that members of the Royal Irish. Constabulary, like the mem- of the police of other countries, should wear numbers on their uniforms, both in town or country.
MR. BRYCEThe facts are as stated in the first two clauses of the Question, but I am informed that it is not the case that the city constabulary, as a rule, have the numbers removed from their uniforms when drafted into the country, nor that members of the constabulary frequently refuse to give their names when requested to do so. The reasons for the existing practice have been frequently stated in this House, and I am not prepared, as at present advised, to say that that practice should be altered. Members of the force are being constantly removed, singly or in detachments, from one part of the country to another, so that a system of numbering by divisions could not easily be arranged, and no difficulty appears to have occurred in ascertaining the names of men against whom any complaint is made.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLIs it not the case that constables constantly refuse to give their names?