§ MR. J. P. FARRELLTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that on the night of Thursday, 12th November, about 9 p.m., an attack was made by a number of policemen armed with blackthorn sticks and batons upon the members of the Clonguish band as they were quietly and peaceably returning to their band-room at Newtownforbes; whether this attack was ordered and headed by a sergeant who is not in charge of the district, but is in charge of a police hut at Curry; whether the police were drunk on this occasion, and had been drinking in the public-house of a local magistrate named James McCann; and whether an inquiry on oath will be granted into the whole of the facts attending this attack upon respectable young men.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary informs me that on the night in question the Clonguish band, who were returning from Longford, stopped opposite a shop in Newtownforbes belonging to Mr. James McCann, 1754 who is boycotted, and began to groan and hiss. The sergeant in charge of the Curry protection post, who was present on duty with seven constables, ordered the crowd to move on, and cease groaning and hissing. While he was giving these directions he and one of the constables were struck from behind with sticks. The demeanour of the crowd became most threatening and the sergeant was obliged to order the police to draw their batons and disperse the crowd, which consisted of thirty-five men. A number of these men returned and resumed the groaning and hissing, when they were again dispersed. There is no foundation for the statement that the police had been drinking, and there is nothing in the occurrence calling for an inquiry.