§ MR. REDDYTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether instructions have been issued or intimation given to the rural police in Ireland by head constables, district inspectors, county inspectors, or other officers, to the effect that grabbers, emergency men, their supporters or sympathisers, are not to be summoned or proceeded against for the trespass on the high roads of cows, calves, goats, donkeys, or other animals their property; 900 if no such instruction or intimation has been given, can he explain the action of the rural police in permitting the parties named to commit trespass with impunity; and whether he will take steps to have the police informed that it is their duty to impartially proceed against all offenders, and that such action will not militate against promotion.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Inspector General informs me that no instructions of the nature indicated have been issued, and he is not aware of any failure on the part of the police to prosecute any class of persons for the offences named. It is the duty of the police to act impartially in the matter of prosecuting all offenders against the law. If any specific instance of default by the police can be given the Inspector General will have the matter fully inquired into and the proper action taken. There is, he informs me, absolutely no foundation for the suggestion that promotion is affected by the matters alluded to.