§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will say on whose instructions emergency men in the service of ranchers in Ireland are allowed by the police to misconduct themselves with impunity; why the Rathowen police have not prosecuted Peter Lacy for assaulting his employer, Christopher Taaffe, J.P., though they found it necessary to protect Taaffe from Lacy; why the police have not prosecuted Nash, emergency man to Harry Bond, J.P., for firing with an unlicensed gun several shots in the village of Ballinalack on 25th August last, and for firing one shot in the house of John Smith, whose wife was then sick in her confinement; and whether he will have those emergency men removed from a district peaceful but for them, and bring under the notice of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland the action of the two magistrates mentioned?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYThere is no foundation for the statement in the first paragraph of the question, and the constabulary authorities tell me that the hon. Member is misinformed as regards the particular cases to which the refers in support of that statement. No complaint was ever made to them that Lacy had assaulted his employer, and the allegation that Nash, who is a gamekeeper, had fired shots on the public road was found, on inquiry, to be groundless. Nothing is known to the police as to his having fired a shot in the house of John Smith.