§ 12. Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether, following on the assassination of Sergeant Rew, Royal Scots Regiment, at Ennis, the Clare Hotel, the Old Ground 126 Hotel, the house of Mr. Patrick Considine, and the grocery shop of Mr. T. V. Honan, chairman of the Ennis Urban Council, were destroyed by order of the military governor; on what ground these premises were selected for destruction; whether the owners were given an opportunity of rebutting any alleged evidence against them; whether he is aware that Mr. Honan was ill in bed in hospital at the time of the murder of Sergeant Rew and had been there in bed for three weeks previously; that he is a widower with six small children, the eldest being 13 years old, and that these children are now homeless; and whether he will state what evidence there was against Mr. Honan or his children to justify this destruction of his means of livelihood?
§ The CHIEF SECRETARY for IRELAND (Colonel Sir Hamar Greenwood)The murder of Sergeant Rew and the subsequent events took place in a martial-law area, and I am informed by the Commander-in-Chief that the premises of Mr. Honan and of Mr. Considine were selected for destruction as the owners were known to be among the chief organisers of rebel activities in Ennis. It was known at the time that Mr. Honan was in hospital and that he is a widower with several children. As regards the question of evidence, this is a matter which must be left to the judgment of the responsible officer on the spot.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYDoes the right hon. Gentleman state that a man who was in hospital for weeks before this terrible murder is to be held responsible and his children rendered homeless, and does the right hon. Gentleman justify that by any sort of law of God or man?