§ 73. Colonel ASHLEYasked the Attorney-General for Ireland why the protection promised by the Government to the respectable inhabitants of Ballinamore, County Leitrim, has not been given; whether on Saturday, the 24th April, twelve soldiers were drafted into the town to strengthen the police force, which consists of five men; whether the soldiers were withdrawn on Tuesday, the 27th April, and that same night damage was done to the premises of the postmaster, which caused his wife to become gravely ill, as she suffers from a weak heart; whether a prominent Roman Catholic, who expressed sympathy at the rigorous boycott under which the postmaster suffers, also had considerable 2217 damage done to his premises; whether the windows of the Methodist church have been broken, the church entered, Bibles torn up, hymn books carried away, and the pulpit removed; and what steps he proposes to take to carry out his promise of protection to the unfortunate inhabitants of this district?
§ Mr. HENRYThe soldiers referred to were withdrawn on Tuesday, the 27th April, for urgent duty elsewhere, the day on which the previous question of the hon. and gallant Member was asked. I am informed that that night a plate-glass window in the shop of the postmaster was broken. I have no information up to the present as to the damage done to the Methodist church, but inquiries are being made, and I will communicate the result to my hon. and gallant Friend. It will be understood that it is not in the public interest to indicate the exact steps it is proposed to take, but my hon. and gallant Friend may be assured that the situation is engaging the serious attention of the authorities. I can inform him, however, that additional police have been sent since his former question.