§ Mr. PENNEFATHERasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland how many times since the 30th June last police on duty in Ireland in motor cars or lorries have been attacked by men in ambush; how many police have in consequence been killed; how many police wounded; how many police captured or disarmed; how many rifles and how much ammunition secured by the attackers; and can he give any assurance to the effect that police motor cars and lorries on dangerous services will in future be provided with more adequate protection for the vital parts of their mechanism and for the persons they carry, thereby placing the police on an equality with the military, to whom the Secretary of State for War has promised large quantities of protective material for their motor cars and lorries?
§ Sir H. GREENWOOD28 attacks of this kind have taken place since the 30th June last, and I regret to state that as a result 23 policemen have been killed, 20 wounded and 6 disarmed. The number of rifles and the amount of ammunition seized in these attacks were small, but in two cases the cars were burned by the raiders. The matter dealt with in the last part of the hon. Member's question has for some time past engaged the earnest attention of the Irish Government, and no step will be omitted which is necessary to improve the protection afforded to these gallant men in the discharge of their dangerous and arduous duties.