§ 19. Mr. KENYONasked the Chief Secretary whether arrests have yet been made in connection with the death of Michael Ryan, of Kilfeakle, County Tipperary, who was found dead on the road on the 19th February?
§ Mr. HENRYNo arrest has been made in this case. The Court of Inquiry found that Ryan had been wilfully murdered by some person or persons unknown.
§ 67. Mr. DEVLINasked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been called to, the murder of John Murphy, B.A., national school teacher, at Ballinalee, County Longford; whether he is aware that in the early hours of Thursday, 26th May, six masked and armed men, wearing light raincoats and rubber-soled shoes, came to his home and dragged him away, despite the protestations of his wife and himself, and shot him dead a little distance from his home; whether at the military inquiry next day the widow stated that the murderers spoke with a marked English accent. that she could identify some of them, and that she was prepared to swear that they were members of the auxiliary forces stationed at Ballinalee Barracks, about half a mile from the scene of the murder; whether relatives of the widow state that they saw members of the auxiliary forces on the morning after the murder carefully erasing all traces of footprints when they came with the county inspector to investigate the crime; whether he is aware that there was no charge made against the late Mr. Murphy and that he had no connection with politics; whether he can state who was responsible for censoring the evidence at the inquiry and deleting that portion of the evidence which pointed to the crime having been committed by the Crown forces; and what action, if any, he proposes to take in the matter?
§ Mr. HENRYI have asked the Commander-in-Chief to have inquiry made into the very grave allegations contained in the hon. Member's question which I hope he will repeat at a later date. In the meantime it would be of material assistance to me if he could see his way to put me in possession of the evidence on which these allegations are based.
§ Mr. DEVLINCertainly. You can get that immediately.
Mr. O'CONNOR(by Private Notice) asked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been called to the murder of two brothers, Patrick and John Watters, in Dundalk, on Saturday last, 18th June; whether about 2 o'clock on that morning a party of armed men entered the licensed premises in Barrack 1522 Street, Dundalk, occupied by Mrs. Watters, her three sons, and two daughters; whether they proceeded to the bedrooms occupied by Patrick and John, and despite the appeals of their mother and sisters, took the boys out of the house, barefooted, and clad only in shirts and trousers; whether they marched the boys in single file before them along the streets; whether Mrs. Watters states that as her sons walked along they were shot at several times and fell on the footpath; whether Patrick was then placed against a wall and shot dead, after which the other boy was taken about 20 yards further and also shot dead: and whether the Government intend to take any action to find the murderers and bring them to justice?
§ Mr. HENRYI have not received the result of the Court of Inquiry in lieu of inquest on these men, but according to the police report they were taken from their beds at 2 a.m. last Saturday by two armed men who are stated to have worn caps and trench coats and were subsequently shot in the street a few yards from their house. Another brother was looked for by the murderers but succeeded in getting away. The police are pursuing their enquiries, but up to the present have made no arrests.