§ 24. Mr. BYRNEasked the Under secretary of State for War if a number of Irishmen who were transferred by Government Departments in Ireland to posts in Government Departments in Great Britain have received calling-up papers from military authorities and that the Government Departments have issued papers to the men releasing them for military service; whether this arrangement to conscript Irishmen has the approval of the War Office; and if he will see that justice will be done to these men who were induced to leave Ireland to take up employment in Great Britain?
§ Mr. FORSTERIf the hon. Member will supply particulars of specific cases in which Irishmen employed in Government Departments have been transferred from Ireland for the purpose of working in Great Britain and have now been sent notices calling them up for military service, inquiries will be made into the facts of each case. The hon. Member was informed on the 24th May, 1917, that Irishmen who were employed in Government offices in Ireland and who had been transferred to Government offices in Great Britain would, if ordinarily resident in Ireland, be excepted from the liability to military service under the Military Service Acts, 1916.
§ 25. Mr. BYRNEasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to the methods of the Excise authorities to obtain recruits; if he is aware that since the outbreak of war they induced a number of Irishmen to come to England to do Government work and that they are now releasing them for military service although they are not ordinarily resident in Great Britain; and if he will see that this treatment will not be tolerated by the War Office?
§ Mr. FORSTERI would refer the hon. Member to the answers given on 25th June to the hon. Member for Wicklow, W., by my hon. Friend the Joint Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and on 24th May by my hon. Friend the Undersecretary of State to the hon. Member for Dublin Harbour.