§ 16. Mr. KINGasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that the Gaelic League was founded over twenty years ago to save and foster the Irish language; that it has included persons of different religious creeds and political views; that it has branches in Oxford and elsewhere in Great Britain, in the United States, in Canada, and South Africa; whether any steps have been or will be taken to prevent these branches from continuing their activities; and whether there was any evidence that the Gaelic League, when proclaimed as dangerous in Ireland, was an organisation supporting seditious aims or violent methods?
§ Mr. SHORTTThe answer to the first and second parts of the question is in the affirmative. I have no knowledge of the activities of the Gaelic League outside Ireland. In answer to the last part of the question, there was evidence that extremists were intending to use the Gaelic League for seditious aims and violent methods in case Sinn Fein had to be put down, and the Proclamation was a matter of precaution.
§ Mr. KINGIs the right hon. Gentleman aware of the immense service which the Gaelic League has rendered to the cause of temperance and sobriety and general peace throughout the whole of Ireland?
§ Mr. SHORTTYes; I am perfectly well aware of that. The Proclamation is intended not against the Gaelic League, but against people who might use the Gaelic League for seditious purposes.
§ Mr. KINGAre the peaceful and useful functions and activities of the Gaelic League to be allowed or to be suppressed because of a few extremists?
§ Mr. SHORTTThey will be allowed so long as they remain so.