§ 19. Mr. EDWARD KELLYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, whether, in view of the judgment of the King's Bench Division pronounced on the 10th April, on the application of Thomas Connors for a writ of habeas corpus directed to the Inspector-General, the Irish Executive still claim the right to take children of tender years from their homes without giving notice to their parents and without informing their parents of the place where the children may be detained, and, if so, will he say on what authority these powers are exercised?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL for IRELAND (Mr. A.W. Samuels)It is presumed that this question relates to the same matters as those referred to in the questions asked by the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland Division of Durham on the 27th March and by the Noble Lord the Member for Nottingham South on 3rd April. The hon. Member is referred to the answers given to these two questions. The children were not arrested. Two boys named John Connors and Timothy Connors and another boy named Matthew Hogan were, on account of circumstances connected with the murder on 21st January last of Constables McDonnell and O'Connell at Soloheadbeg, county Tipperary, removed from the neighbourhood with a view for their personal safety. John Connors was absent from his home from the 12th to the 28th February. The other Connors and Hogan remained in Dublin for about two months.
§ Mr. MacVEAGHWhat does the right hon. Gentleman mean by saying that they 301 were not arrested? Were they not taken away by the police in a military wagon and kept in police custody all the time?
§ Mr. SAMUELSThey were under police guardianship.
§ Mr. MacVEAGHThis is not a matter the right hon. Gentleman can frivol with. [HON. MEMBERS: "Order, order!"] I am perfectly in order.
§ Mr. MacVEAGHI think my question was quite in order. What does the right hon. Gentleman mean by saying that this child was not in the custody of the police, seeing that the police took him away from the custody of his parents and brought him in a military wagon to Dublin and kept him there during these weeks?
§ Mr. SAMUELSI am not in a position to speak as to the accuracy of the hon. Member's statement of the circumstances of removal, but I can assure the hon. Member that in the judgment of the authorities the removal was essential, having regard to what was going on.
§ Mr. MacVEAGHHas the Attorney-General read the observations passed on this case by the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and the special censure of the police on the motion for a writ of habeas corpus?
§ Mr. SAMUELSI think the hon. Member has a question down on the matter, and I shall deal with it when I come to answer it.
§ Mr. MacVEAGHBut you have asked me to postpone it.
§ Mr. SAMUELSThat is so.
§ Mr. MacVEAGHI am sorry, but the Attorney-General, as the head of the legal profession in Ireland, must be perfectly well aware of the censure by the Lord Chief Justice in the Court.
§ Mr. MacVEAGHIt is on the Paper.