§ MR. O'MALLEY (Galway, Connemara)To ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland if his attention has been drawn to the action brought against certain tenants in Ballinakill, county Galway, by Sergeant Elliott, of Letterfrack, in the said county, for taking oysters from Ballinakill Bay, which right they have enjoyed for seventeen years; whether he is aware that the case was dismissed but the Letterfrack bench of magistrates on the 18th instant; and whether, in view of this decision, the tenants will be allowed in future to exercise their rights to these oyster beds.
(Answered by Mr. Cherry.) My attention has been called to the matter referred to. The question of granting a licence for an oyster bed at Ballinakill Bay is the subject of a pending appeal before the Privy Council. I have no information as to what rights, if any, the tenants may 1237 have, but pending the decision of the appeal the police have been instructed not to take further action in the matter except to preserve the peace, should it be in any way endangered.