§ 83. Mr. T. P. O'CONNORasked the Chief Secretary if his attention has been called to the fact that in the Presbytery Church, Ballinaglera, County Leitrim, on the 5th June last, the head of the police force in County Leitrim dragged the people off their knees in the middle of Mass and drove them outside the Church; and whether the Government will 1796 take steps to ensure that behaviour of this sort does not occur again?
§ Sir H. GREENWOODI am informed that a party of Crown forces surrounded Ballinaglera Chapel during Mass on 5th June with a view to searching for wanted men after Mass was over. Directly they arrived one man sitting just inside the door was seen to pass a bundle of papers to another and he in turn was about to pass it to a woman when it was intercepted. The two men involved in this incident were touched on the shoulder and requested to come outside, which they did. This is the only foundation for the allegation that people were dragged off their knees and driven out of church. No other persons left their seats till the conclusion of the service, which was in no way interrupted and went an without a pause to its conclusion. The documents seized were of a seditious character and were retained by the police.