HC Deb 20 December 1945 vol 417 cc1536-7
66. Mr. Longden

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will reconsider the circumstances through which 60 Irish men and women were given long-term prison sentences for political offences, with a view to granting a general amnesty.

71. Mr. P. Freeman

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will review the sentences of the 60 Irish men and girls now in English prisons, where they are serving long-term sentences for political offences.

74. Mr. J. Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will now consider granting an amnesty for the 60 Irish men and women who are serving long-term sentences in English prisons, the majority of whom have already spent nearly seven years in penal servitude.

77. Major Wyatt

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now consider releasing the 60 Irish men and women still serving sentences in this country for offences in connection with the bomb incidents in 1939.

Mr. Ede

I would refer my hon. Friends to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Central Leeds (Mr. G. Porter) on 28th November.

Mr. Longden

Could the Minister not make some fresh gesture to the Irish people in this direction?

Mr. Ede

Ihope that my hon. Friend will read the answer to which I have referred, where he will find the reasons for my decision fully set out.