§ CAPTAIN CRAIG (Down, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a man named Patrick Lyons, of Tooma, County Leitrim, was recently shot; whether he can say if he is seriously injured, what arrests have been made, and what sentence passed; whether he is aware that cattle-drives recently took place in the district of Tuam, where the stock of a cattle owner, near Tullinadaly, consisting of 225 sheep and fourteen head of cattle were driven, and from a farm on the estate of Colonel Walter Nolan, where sixty-seven sheep and five cattle were driven; and what arrests have been made and what sentences passed.
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. BIRRELL,) Bristol, N.The police authorities inform me that on 7th June, in County Leitrim, Patrick Lyons was fired at and seriously injured in the thigh, but is now progressing favourably. The accused person has been arrested, and the proceedings are pending. The cattle-drives referred to in the second part of the Question recently took place in the County Galway. No arrests have been made in those cases.
§ CAPTAIN CRAIGIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that this case of shooting arose in connection with an agrarian dispute? Do the Government intend to take no firm stand in regard to these matters, instead of allowing them to drift as they are doing?