§ Mr. DEVLINasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether Patrick Byrne, of Mullingar, one of the Mountjoy hunger-strikers released last April, is at present confined in Mountjoy prison; whether he is detained as a convicted prisoner; if so, whether the only conviction standing against him is the one for which he was imprisoned early in the present year; and whether, if this be the case, in view of the statement made by the Attorney-General for Ireland that the men discharged from Mountjoy in April were not legally liable 2449W to re-arrest, he will state under what authority Patrick Byrne is detained and treated as a convicted prisoner?
§ Sir H. GREENWOODThe answer to the first three parts of the question is in the affirmative, but it is probable that a further charge will be brought against Byrne under Restoration of Order in Ireland Regulations. As regards the last part of the question, Byrne is not one of those discharged in April last. He was discharged on the 7th May specifically under the provisions of the Prisoners (Temporary discharge for ill health) Act, 1913, and should have returned to prison on 30th June last.