§ MR. J. DEVLIN (Belfast, W.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that it is customary for members of the Royal Irish Constabulary to visit public-houses at Greencastle for the purpose of ascertaining whether customers are bona fide travellers, and, after questioning the customers, to march them to the police barrack for the purpose of ascertaining by telephone whether they slept at the addresses given in the public-houses; whether such a. system is in accordance with the police rules; and, if not, whether he will order its discontinuance.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) I am informed that large numbers of persons enter public-houses at Greencastle on Sundays as bona fide travellers. It is the duty of the police to visit the public-houses in order to enforce the Licensing Acts, and it has been found that very few of the persons found drinking on Sundays give their correct names and addresses. If a constable has reasonable grounds to suppose that the name or address given is false he may require evidence of the correctness of such name and address, and, in default of its production, may forthwith apprehend the person and take him before a magistrate. (Licensing Act (Ireland) 1874, Section 27.) Rather than take this extreme measure the police at Greencastle have been in the habit of asking persons to come to the adjacent police station to have their names and addresses verified, which they do voluntarily, and it has been found that very few of the persons so taken to the station have given correct names and addresses in the first instance. The alternative to the adoption of this course would, as 337 I have already indicated, be the apprehension of the persons under the section quoted.