§ Mr. JEREMIAH MacVEAGHasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he can state the total amount of damage done to property during the recent disturbances in Lurgan and Portadown; the number of police officers and constables assaulted; the total number of extra police drafted in; and the number of arrests made?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI am informed by the constabulary authorities that the damage to property in Lurgan during the recent disturbance is estimated at between £500 and £600. In Portadown £400 have been claimed for damages to property. Upwards of 100 police officers and men were struck with stones or other missiles, but in the majority of cases no serious injury was inflicted. Twenty-one extra police were drafted into Lurgan on 15th August and 507 into Portadown. The extra police sent to Portadown nearly all returned to their stations on the following day, and on 17th August a further force of 200 police had to be drafted in, and are still there. Twelve arrests were made in Lurgan, and forty arrests have been made in Portadown.
§ Mr. W. MOOREMay I ask if as a Minister he will obtain facilities whereby this matter can be debated instead of being the subject of daily slanders on respectable communities?
§ Mr. SWIFT MacNEILLMay I ask the Chief Secretary whether he is satisfied that the police, under very difficult circumstances, have discharged their duty to the utmost in the preservation of order and the maintenance of life, and whether he is aware that on the evening of the riots they actually met the trains at Portadown and warned the passengers not to go into the town for fear of the riotous mob, to which they themselves were subjected?
§ Mr. BIRRELLWhat I believe is that the police almost invariably always do their duty. Their action is generally called in question on one side or the other, I presume, according to the amount of damage inflicted.
Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKERThe word "slander" is an improper word to use. There is nothing in the question which could possibly be said to be a slander.
§ Mr. MOOREOn a point of Order. If the suggestion in the question is untrue from wrong informants of the hon. Member and slanderous, I acquit the hon. Member of any personal suggestion, but I say he has been misinformed, and I submit that a gentleman who has been misinformed, and a Member of this House who uses his information as a vehicle for questions is unintentionally guilty of slander. May I ask if I am to get an answer as to facilities?
§ Mr. J. MacVEAGHMay I ask how could I be guilty of slander in putting four simple, questions, which have been answered?
§ Mr. J. MacVEAGHMay I ask the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been called to the fact that on Saturday next in Portadown there is a demonstration of the Orange Order of Black Men, and will the extra police be retained until the hon. Member's Constituents have demonstrated?
§ Mr. MOOREArising out of that, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman if he will see that this loyal demonstration receives the same protection from the hands of the police as the rebel one the other day?
§ Mr. JEREMIAH MacVEAGHasked the Chief Secretary, with reference to the allegation that shots were fired in Portadown on the 15th instant from the train containing the Nationalist excursionists from Derry, whether he has ascertained that there was a policeman and a committee man in each carriage; whether any person firing shots from the train would therefore have been arrested; and whether the police in the train reported any such firing as is alleged to have taken place?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe police have no doubt that two shots were fired from an excursion train on the occasion referred to, but, from the reports which I have now received, it is clear that the shots could not have been fired from the Londonderry train, as there was a constable in each car- 2096 riage who could have arrested any person who fired.
§ Mr. MOOREMay I ask whether shots were fired from the Nationalist excursion train leaving Portadown?
§ Mr. BIRRELLNo, Sir; the answer was that the shots could not have been fired from the Londonderry train. Shots do appear to have been fired from the Newry train.
§ Mr. BIRRELLSo I understand.
§ Mr. J. MacVEAGHIt was not a Nationalist train.