§ 30 Mr. GINNELLasked the Attorney-General for Ireland (1) whether his attention has been called to a recent case at Mallow Petty Sessions in which the Court fined Messrs. Jeremiah Cronin and Timothy Cronin 10s. each for an offence which it was proved by all witnesses, except the police, that they had not committed, and which two independent witnesses voluntarily admitted that they themselves had committed; what reparation is to be made to the young men punished for what they did not do; what action he proposes to take with regard to the magistrates, especially the resident magistrate brought from elsewhere to Mallow specially for this case; (2) the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland what report he has read, other than that of the police, of the attack made by specially armed policemen on unarmed and unwarned civilians at Mallow on the 22nd May; seeing that the police report differs in every particular from that of every other available witness, whether an independent inquiry upon oath will be held in Mallow for the convenience of those witnesses; (3) whether he has got a police report of the attack made by armed policemen on unarmed civilians at 593 Mallow on the 22nd May; what explanation it gives of the violence inflicted upon Mr. Timothy Riordan whose wounds had to be dressed by Dr. Vaughan; what explanation of Constable Kennedy's conduct, in the presence of available witnesses, in stepping off the footpath to insult this wounded man when being carried away; as the police did not assume that attitude without instructions, whether those instructions will be produced at an independent inquiry; and (4) whether to attack, without preliminary order to disperse, and baton, as they did, unarmed and unoffending men who had just been acquitted of a police charge was the only purpose for which the police at Mallow were armed on the 22nd May, and the only purpose for which the head-constable and Detective Fallon also, for the first time since their arrival at Mallow, carried iron-mounted sticks; what is the official explanation of the special attack made by Fallon, Sergeant M'Gill, and Constables Dwyer and Robinson, junior, on Mr. Daniel Hegarty, ex-prisoner of war, whom they knocked down, deprived of the flag he was carrying, rendered unconscious by kicking on the back and head, and would have killed but for the intervention of two ladies; what is Mr. Hegarty's present condition; what reparation is to be made to him; what apology have the police been required to offer to the girls they struck on the same occasion and to the Reverend Father Sheehan, whom they threatened to strike for attempting to prevent murder by them; whether the policemen named have recently been themselves defendants in a charge of which of them was convicted and fined £2; whether it is in accordance with the regulations for policemen of this type to canvass magistrates in advance with reference to matters about to some before them, and induce publicans, under veiled threats, to act as intermediaries for a like purpose; if a pogrom was not the object of the Government on that occasion, whether, in view of the character of the police, a public inquiry on oath will be held; and whether the movements of Detective Fallon will be restricted pending the result of such inquiry?
§ Mr. DUKEThe subject is the same as that about which I answered a question to the hon. and learned Member for North-East Cork last week. I am informed that the men named were convicted after a full magisterial inquiry, and I have no 594 reason to doubt the justice of the sentence. As to the hon. Member's imputations on the police, I am informed that the police were stoned by a mob and used their batons in self-defence, that there is no ground for the allegations of unprovoked attacks on individuals, and that the suggested incident of the Rev. Father Sheehan did not occur. The proper mode of investigation is that by magisterial inquiry, which has been followed.
§ Mr. GINNELLThe Chief Secretary has not informed the House how it was that this sentence on these two men was enforced, notwithstanding that two witnesses volunteered to give evidence that they themselves and nobody else committed the offence?
§ Mr. GINNELLWill the Chief Secretary say whether he has received any reports but that of the police, and whether he will give the public sworn inquiry desired by the people of Mallow?
§ Mr. DUKEI have pointed out that there is a remedy open to any person aggrieved by an alleged assault, and that is to take proceedings which produce a sworn inquiry. There are quite enough sworn inquiries in Ireland without me voluntarily setting up another.
§ Mr. GINNELLReally, is not an action against the police in Ireland like bringing an action against Satan in hell?