§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether a summons is sent before each meeting of the Irish Privy Council requesting the attendance of every member of that body, or is it the practice to send invitations to attend the meeting of that body to such members of the Privy Council only as the Government desire to be present; and whether, having regard to the fact that the members of the Irish Judiciary who are members of the Irish Privy Council, to which some of them have been appointed after their promotion to the Bench, not infrequently adjourn the the hearing of cases in their courts, to the expense and inconvenience of suitors and the waste of public time, in order to 1283 attend meetings of the Privy Council, steps will be taken to secure that meetings of the Privy Council to which members of the Irish Judiciary are summoned, do not interfere with the discharge by those Judges of their judicial duties.
§ (Answered by Mr. Birrell.) All the members of the Privy Council are not summoned to each meeting. The summonses to ordinary meetings of Council are issued only to members who reside in or near Dublin. These meetings are usually held before the sitting or after the rising of the courts, and Judges who are members of the Council can attend without any interference with their judicial duties.