§ 18. Mr. T. P. O'CONNORasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether it is with his consent and sanction that Mrs. Sheehy-Skeffington has been subjected to police espionage and persecution since the murder of her husband; whether recently, when Mrs. Skeffington was absent from home on a short holiday, her lodgings were visited by detectives, who cross-examined her landlady and threatened her with penalties for not knowing and revealing Mrs. Skeffington's address; whether the police officer who directed these operations was Sergeant McGahey, who is in charge of the aliens' department; and whether it is proposed to continue this system of persecution?
§ Mr. DUKEI am informed that there is no truth in the allegations contained in the first two parts of the question. Mrs. Sheehy - Skeffington's landlady, Mrs. Schmutz, was recently questioned by the police in regard to Mrs. Schmutz's failure to return to them a travelling permit which had been issued to her to enable her to visit her husband, an alien interned in England, and his inquiries of her had relation to the restrictions on the movements of aliens. No person acting under the authority of the Irish Executive desires, so far as I know, to cause Mrs. Sheehy-Skeffington any kind of annoyance.