CRIMINAL INJUEIES (IRELAND) BILL. (Hansard, 9 April 1919)

§ Mr. A. W. SAMUELS (indistinctly heard)

I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a second time."

The object of this Bill is to give compensation for criminal injuries in Ireland. As far back as 1836 provision was made for the compensation of officers and men of the police and other persons who, in the discharge of their duty, had been injured on account of their exertions in bringing persons to justice. Other similar Acts have been passed since that date. For a considerable number of years the interpretation of these Acts had a wider character and embraced all cases of murder or maiming where the murder had arisen out of the activities of certain members of the police force or the magistracy. In recent circumstances it has become absolutely imperative that the members of the Police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Dublin Metropolitan Police, and all the military and the magistracy who are assisting in the administration of law in Ireland should be 2186 protected from the peril of assassination which it has almost become impossible to describe.

I shall tell the House what that terror is. I shall pass away entirely from the tragic incident of the rebellion of 1916 and come down to much more recent years, when a propaganda was started by a body called the Irish Volunteers, who represented themselves as the Army of Ireland. In 1918 a newspaper was published. It is a document most widely circulated in Ireland, printed secretly, and circulated surreptitiously, but which every fortnight goes through the country in thousands and thousands. This document is published as the official organ of the Irish Volunteers. It starts with these representations to the public: For the first time since Easter week, 1916, the Irish Volunteers again possess an official organ, which will follow the usual traditions and attempt to keep to the ideals cherished by the men who founded Ireland's national army in the time of the rebellion. There is a somewhat changed situation in Ireland to-day, and the presence in our ranks of great numbers of new recruits render it necessary to restate some of the basic principles. The Members of the House are aware that the idea of the extreme party in Ireland is to found an Irish Republic. This document is published and printed surreptitiously and secretly circulated in thousands throughout the country. It is an organ of assassination and not merely an organ of insurrection. Here are some of its principles. I will pass over a large number and come down to the present year. In February, 1919, this was being circulated in Ireland, and unquestionably had a great effect among the unfortunately misled youth of the country, who have become the prey of this particular propaganda of the extremists. It is the will of Ireland, expressed by her responsible Government, that the state of war between this country and England should be perpetuated until the foreign garrison have evacuated our country. It will be the duty of the Volunteers, acting in accordance with the will of our Government and the wishes of the Irish people, to secure the continuance of that state of war by every means at our disposal and in the most vigorous way practicable. Every Volunteer must be prepared for more drastic action and more strenuous activities than ever before since Easter, 1916. The Government claims the same powers and authority—that is the Government instituted by the Sinn Feiners—as any other lawfully constituted Government, and the British soldiers, who have per- 2187 formed such splendid services in Ireland, are to be treated exactly as the soldiers of an invading army. England must be given the choice between evacuating this country and holding it by a foreign garrison… The agents of England in this country must be made to realise that their occupation is not a healthy one. All those engaged in carrying on English administration in this country must be made to realise that it is not safe for them to carry it on in opposition to the Irish Republican Government and the wishes of the country. In particular, any policeman, judge, warder, or official, from the British Lord-Lieutenant downwards, must be made to understand that it is not wise for him to distinguish himself by undue zeal in the service of England in his opposition to the Irish Republic. Any number of surreptitious documents of this character are circulated all through the country, and it is with the object of protecting from assassination, which has occurred in cases over and over again in Ireland, magistrates, police, and other persons who are carrying out the law, that we ask you to give us the powers that are inserted in this Bill and which were contained in the Act of 1882 which was allowed to drop. Speaking with a very intimate knowledge of the terrible position of the country, I can tell hon. Members that it is essential, in the opinion of the Irish Government, that it should be given these powers, the effect of which will be that the country and the district which have screened the perpetrators of these crimes, many of which are fresh in the recollections of hon. Members, should pay compensation to the widows and 2188 orphans of the men who have been assassinated as the result of this dastardly propaganda while carrying out their duties in a most splendid manner with a courage unexampled. The Dublin Metropolitan Police, the Royal Irish Constabulary, and soldiers stationed in Ireland have acted with great discretion, wonderful temper, and the splendid courage which have always marked their conduct