HC Deb 26 June 1916 vol 83 c543W
Mr. MAURICE HEALY

asked the Prime Minister whether a meeting called in Belfast for 20th June to protest against the exclusion of any part of Ulster from the Home Rule Act has been prohibited by the military authorities; and, if so, whether this has been done with the sanction of the Government?

The PRIME MINISTER

I have received the following information from General Sir John Maxwell on this subject. The Commissioner of Police, Belfast, refused a request for a meeting of Irish Nationalists on the grounds that it was really a Sinn Fein meeting. I have told him, on the advice of the Attorney-General, that he should not have done so. All meetings called for a perfectly legitimate constitutional purpose are not to be prohibited, but that all necessary steps should be taken to prevent interference with those attending such meetings or with the meeting itself.