§ 54. Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he can now say for what offence Mr. Fawsitt, secretary of the Cork Industrial Development Association, was ordered by the military authorities out of the district in which he worked in that capacity; on what grounds the civil authorities made his business impossible outside that district by a constant accompaniment of police spies; why he has not been accused or tried for anything; whether it is the present practice, when the military authorities expel a man from a particular part of Ireland, for the civil authorities to make his business impossible in the remainder of the country without accusation or trial; under what law this is done; and under what regulation the general who signed the order for Mr. Fawsitt's transportation, in the absence of trial, refused to grant him even an interview?
§ Mr. TENNANTThe person referred to in the question is one of the thirteen mentioned in the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to a question asked by the hon. Member on the 29th ultimo, to which I would refer him for answers to the first and third parts of the question. Such supervision as may be exercised over an individual guilty or suspected of acting in a manner prejudicial to the public safety or the defence of the realm is dictated by the necessity of preventing such action. I am informed that in the present case a lengthy interview was granted to the offender by a representative of the military authorities, and that he had thus every opportunity of making representations in his own behalf.
§ Mr. GINNELLCan the right hon. Gentleman say under whose instructions this man's business was made impossible in the rest of Ireland, after he had been expelled from his normal sphere?
§ Mr. TENNANTDoes the hon. Gentleman ask me under whose authority?
§ Mr. GINNELLYes.
§ Mr. TENNANTUnder the authority of the military authorities.
§ Mr. GINNELLThe military authorities having expelled him from one district, will the right hon. Gentleman say who expelled him from the remainder of Ireland?
§ Mr. TENNANTI imagine that the same authority who expelled him from one expelled him from the other.
§ Mr. LYNCHI beg to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland a question, of which I have given him private notice, namely: Whether he can give any information in reference to the order for deportation given to Mr. Ernest Blythe, at Ennistymon, West Clare, on Monday last, especially the reasons for this action?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe hon. Member should address this question to the Under-Secretary of State for War.
§ Mr. GINNELLOn a point of Order. I gave the Chief Secretary notice of a question on a subject of which this question is a part, and I received a note from the Clerk at the Table saying that you, Sir, said that it could not be put as an urgent question. The point of Order is whether you rule that a question referring to the expulsion from Ireland for their political opinions of men who have not been accused of, or tried for, any offence whatever is not an urgent question?
§ Mr. SPEAKERI read the hon. Member's question, and it seemed to me to be of a general character, and it was not one which I thought was so urgent that it should be put after the time limit for questions. If the hon. Gentleman will put it down on the Paper in the ordinary way he will get an answer.
§ Mr. GINNELLYes, but a question regarding the expulsion of men from a country in which they are entitled to live without accusation or trial is, I respectfully submit, urgent.
§ Mr. SPEAKERI did not think that it was when I looked at the nature of the hon. Gentleman's question. It contained a great number of questions, most of which were of a general character.