HC Deb 26 June 1907 vol 176 c1399
CAPTAIN CRAIG

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a man named Brady, caretaker on a farm at Ballinaglera, county Leitrim, is so rigorously boycotted that he has to travel twenty-six miles to the village of Dromahair to obtain the bare necessities of life; whether he is aware that early on 18th June he was assaulted and his donkey and cart taken from him; whether any arrests have been made; and, if so, whether either the Attorney General or the Solicitor-General will prosecute in the case in person.

MR. BIRRELL

On the 17th instant two men wore arrested upon the charge of assaulting Martin Brady, a son of the caretaker referred to in the Question, and stealing from him a donkey which he was riding. The accused were on the same day taken before the magistrates, who, by a majority, refused to receive informations and return the accused for trial. My right hon. friend the Attorney-General for Ireland has since considered the evidence in the case, and has directed that a Bill against the accused shall be sent up at the next Assizes. He will consider the suggestion of the hon. and gallant Member as to prosecuting in person, but he cannot undertake to do so in the case of every agrarian offence.