§ Mr. A. WILLIAMSasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether a deputation representative of the British and Irish co-operative movements waited upon him on the 28th of October and requested an open and impartial inquiry into the destruction of the property of co-operative societies in Ireland by the forces of the Crown, compensation by the Crown for such destruction where proven, and protection from similar attacks in future; whether he promised to issue an instruction to the police, and to request Sir Neville Macready to issue an instruction to the troops, ordering the police and military respectively to protect the buildings and property of the co-operative societies; whether such instructions have in fact been issued, and, if so, when; whether since the date of the interview further attacks on co-operative property have taken place in Ballintrillick, Ballymote, Nenagh, and Littleton, resulting in the destruction of the co-operative creameries in those places; what efforts are being made to obtain full and impartial investigation, in addition to the official reports, into the facts; and what steps the Government is now taking, or proposes to take, to put an end to the wanton destruction of these valuable wealth-producing agencies, the property of Irish farmers, of whose participation in violence there is neither evidence nor reasonable presumption?
§ Sir H. GREENWOODThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. I promised the deputation that I would consider the question of issuing instructions to the police regarding the protection of co-operative institutions, and that I would ask the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief to issue similar instructions to the troops. I immediately called the attention of the police and military authorities to the representations made by the deputation with a view to every possible protection being given to these institutions. I must remind the hon. Member that the military and police are charged with the protection of property of every2112W description and of life in Ireland, and it is impossible to interfere with the disposition of their forces so as to provide special detachments of police or military for the special protection of any particular class of property. Inquiries into the four cases mentioned of alleged attacks on co-operative property are not yet complete. As the Government has already stated in the House, and as I informed the deputation, the Government is not prepared to set up an independent tribunal to hold an inquiry into these incidents.