§ 5 Mr. GINNELLasked (1) the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he has learned through the police, or any other channel, that any change has been 1630 made in the purpose of the Irish Volunteers to maintain and defend the rights and liberties of all the people of Ireland without distinction; whether any representative body in Ireland has objected to that purpose; and, that purpose not being illegal, at what date the Irish Government decided to crush it by transferring its advocates from the civil to the military authorities to be deported without trial or reason stated; (2) whether the police employed during the last six months watching and reporting the words, acts, and movements of Irish Volunteer officers have failed to detect any illegality for which any of those officers could be cited before any Court; whether they administered a covenant to violate any law; and if he can state any purpose, other than provocation, to be served by directing the military authorities to deport them for their political opinions without accusation or trial, while encouraging the Ulster Volunteers to organise, drill, and obtain arms and ammunition for their covenanted purpose of resisting by force the Government of Ireland Act, 1914; and (3) the Prime Minister whether His Majesty's Government, after having encouraged the Ulster Volunteers to organise, drill, and obtain arms and ammunition for the express purpose of resisting by force the Government of Ireland Act, 1914, have considered the natural consequences of now suppressing by military force the expression of political opinions not contrary to any existing Jaw by arresting and deporting the speakers as criminals; whether this policy is considered to be in the public interest; and, since Parliament did not intend the Defence of the Realm Act to be so used, and it is being so used nowhere but in Ireland, will he say how the Government intend to deal with resistance to that use of it in Ireland?
§ The CHIEF SECRETARY for IRELAND (Mr. Birrell)The reply given yesterday by my right hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for War made it clear that the action initiated by the competent military authority in Ireland against certain members of the Irish Volunteers was dictated by military considerations connected with the public safety and the defence of the realm. The hon. Member's questions, which are based on the unfounded assumption that this action has been urged by the civil authorities on political grounds, accordingly do not arise.
§ Mr. GINNELLIf these proceedings are not on political grounds, how is it that the persons concerned in them are warned not to take any part in public meetings?
§ Mr. BIRRELLIf they are acting in a manner dangerous to the safety of the realm they are accordingly warned off from taking part in public action.
§ Mr. GINNELLIs not the expression of political opinion a political ground?
§ Mr. BIRRELLNo; I do not care two straws for the political opinions of any one of these parties.
§ 51. Mr. GINNELLasked the Under-Secretary for War whether Mr. Denis MacCullagh, a Belfast business man whose business depends upon his personal supervision, has been, under the Defence of the Realm Act, banished from Ireland and ordered not to return; of so, will he say for what illegality; why the order, which expressly allowed him seven days to make his arrangements, was withheld until four of those days had elapsed, leaving him only three; why the military authorities, the competent authorities under the Act, knew nothing of the order until it was brought to them for signature; whether the police, closely watching Mr. MacCullagh during the last six months, have detected anything in his conduct for which to cite him before any Court; whether he can state any ground for the banishment of Mr. MacCullagh other than his political opinions, or any purpose other than to create a pretext for executing the pogrom planned in 1914; and under what law he justifies this punishment for political opinions without accusation or trial, while according the privileges of organising, drilling, and obtaining arms and ammunition to the Ulster Volunteers, organised and pledged expressly to resist by force the Government of Ireland Act, 1914, and declared by the Lord Chancellor of England to be distinctly illegal?
§ Mr. TENNANTI would refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer which I gave to the similar question put by him yesterday.
§ Mr. GINNELLWill the right hon. Gentleman say whether this gentleman's time before expulsion from Ireland has been extended, and, if so, under what conditions?
§ Mr. TENNANTI am sorry I cannot say.