HC Deb 20 May 1908 vol 189 c300
MR. JOHN ROCHE (Galway, E.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in the, district of Mount Bellow, County Galway, sixteen women were arrested by the police at the hour of 3 a.m., in April last, and driven to Ballinasloe, twenty miles distant, upon a cold, bitter morning; and if so, was it necessary to arrest them at that hour; could they have been charged in the morning at Mount Bellew; and what amount did it cost to convey those women to Ballinasloe.

MR. BIRRELL

On 27th March, between 3 and 5 a.m., three men and fifteen women were arrested in the Mount Bellow district upon a charge of unlawful assembly. The police authorities considered it to be in the interests of the peace of the district that the arrests should be made early in the morning. The defendents were conveyed before the resident magistrate at Ballinasloe, nineteen miles distant, and were by him ordered to give sureties to keep the peace, which they did. It was in accordance with the usual practice that the defendants were taken before the resident magistrate and not before local justices. The cost of conveying them to Ballinasloe was £29.

In reply to a further Question by Mr. Roche,

MR. BIRRELL

said he regretted the arrests were made at so early an hour in the morning, but it was not always possible to prejudge the hour of arrest.

MR. JOHN O'CONNOR

Why not send people like this a letter asking them to come in?

MR. BIRRELL

I should be quite willing to adopt the course.

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)

Will the right hon. Gentleman take steps to put down this driving of men and women?

[No Answer was returned.]