19. Captain CRAIGasked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that on the 10th June last there were established in sixteen Nationalist counties of Ireland forty-three special police posts for the protection of individuals whose lives or properties are in serious danger as the result of agrarian, political, or other secret criminal conspiracies; whether at the present time the the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland finds it necessary to proclaim the counties of Clare, Galway, and Roscommon as being in a state, of disturbance which requires a special extra force of police to maintain order; whether a large portion of the cost of these extra police falls upon the local taxpayers; and whether he considered the position of the persons now protected by the forty-three special police posts, and the position of law-abiding people in the counties of Clare, Galway, and Roscommon, if the government of Ireland and the control of the police be handed over to an Irish Nationalist executive, as is proposed by the Government of Ireland Bill?
§ Mr. BIRRELLForty-three protection posts are still maintained in sixteen counties, owing, in nearly every case, to agrarian disputes, which are gradually being brought to an end by land purchase. Extra police continue to be employed in three out of the eight counties which were 570 declared in 1907 to be in a state requiring an additional force. Half the cost of these extra police falls on the counties. The control of the Royal Irish Constabulary will, under the Government of Ireland Bill, be transferred after six years to the Irish Government, who will then be responsible for peace and order. There is no reason to suppose that they will fail to take any steps necessary or proper for the purpose.
§ Mr. LYNCHIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that quite recently Lord Chief Justice Cherry said the state of Clare was satisfactory? Are not these charges the dying kicks of a discredited cause or the discreditable kicks of a dying cause?