I have given notice that on the Motion for the Adjournment I would raise a matter about which I put questions to the Minister for Justice to-day, concerning raids for arms by detective officers in County Cork. He stated that those raids were conducted under a search warrant, but I wish to know from him whether any hour was stated in the warrant at which those detectives were to carry out the raids or whether any date was put into it. I think that we should have got beyond the time when detectives can enter a dwelling-house in the middle of the night. They have plenty of time for raiding from 7 o'clock in the morning until 8 o'clock at night. If they had to raid they could do so between those hours. Instead of that, however, the first raid to which I refer took place at 11.30 p.m., when they entered a house, took this unfortunate boy, who was ill and who is under the doctor's care, dragged him out through the door and threatened him with assault. They did not ask him for arms but where certain documents were, and when his sister followed him out to give him a scarf they used filthy language to her. The Minister will, of course, deny all these statements and state that these detective officers are above suspicion of any kind. I know what the Minister's attitude is of old on these matters, and though I have half an hour to-night to deal with the Minister I would prefer, and I am sure I would convince him a lot better, if I had him somewhere else for only a quarter of an hour. I suppose that the Minister will accept the word of these detectives as gospel despite any evidence, brought against them, but I am glad to say that that is not the view of his Courts as one of these detectives has been twice convicted of assault.
Debate on the Adjournment.—County Cork Searches for Arms.
When was that? What evidence have you?
If the Minister wishes I will send him the dates of those assaults.
I wish you would.
Very well, but I thought that the Minister kept a record of these gentlemen in his files.
So I do.
Then he should know the dates on which they committed those assaults. On one occasion one of these detectives put a man's arm out of joint and was fined £2 in the Midleton District Court. The second raid took place at 1.30 o'clock on a Sunday morning, evidently because they did not get satisfaction in the first house. The raid occupied two hours. They dragged this man out of bed, ordered him to dress, hardly gave him any time to do so, and then ordered him out into the yard while the others were inside searching. When he got back to his house finally he found the furniture broken up and the house in such a condition that he was unable to make his breakfast. If those raids are going to be continued, apparently with the patronage of the Minister, the citizens of the State will have to raise some fund to equip defence forces against the Minister's Black and Tans. There is nothing else for it. I have seen night after night cases such as this brought up here but not half of them are mentioned here. I tell the Minister that I would take that young man's word before I would take the word of ten or fifteen of his Tans. These are not raids by uniformed forces and, so far as I can see, the majority of the uniformed Guards are decent men. There are, however, forces under the Minister's control apparently, or under no control whatever, who are constantly committing these outrages in the country in order to keep their own jobs. What firearms did they expect to find at 1.30 a.m. which they would not expect to find at 7 o'clock in the morning? Of course, it is all very well to find excuses but if the Minister thinks that a gentleman who has already been fined £2 for assault is a fit person to raid any man's house at 1 o'clock in the morning I think it is a strange thing. I gave these people advice before and I say now that if uniformed men do not accompany these highwaymen these people should treat them as they would treat any other robber and if there are arms in the house they should give them a dose of them. Nobody knows whether they are robbers or not until the door is opened and until they break into the house. At 1.30 in the morning these gentlemen come into a dwelling-house and adopt that attitude. Therefore I make a last appeal to the Minister to control these people and, if he cannot, he should say so and let somebody else get in who will control them or attempt to do so. We know that the Minister will say:—"These are the kinds of complaints which I get every day of the week. This is the frame of mind in which Deputies approach me. These are cases without any foundation which are constantly coming up before us."
The Deputy is answering himself.
That is not the view of the judge of the District Court who fined this gentleman twice. Of course, apparently the Minister is put up as a kind of cockshot to have every argument rebutted, and to say: "These things did not happen, and there it ends." I can, however, promise the Minister that it is not going to end there, and I can promise him that, as that area was defended before against Tans as bold as his Tans, it will, if necessary, be defended again. It is time to call a halt and if the Minister does not call a halt there are people in Ireland who will call a halt to them. If the Minister contends that it is right to have a man who has been twice convicted of assault kept in a district to terrorise law-abiding inhabitants it is time that we knew where we are. I have repeatedly brought cases of assault to the Minister's attention and have always got the same satisfaction, namely, none. If the elected representatives of the people are not able to protect such inhabitants then we will adopt other means. I can tell the Minister that I am not going to allow any constituent of mine to be blackguarded by any Tan of his. I will not waste time listening to the Minister's reply because I know what it is.
It was a rather interesting speech to which we have just listened. Here is a gentleman who masquerades as a member of this House and who states:—"If there are arms in the house I would advise them to let them have a dose of them." That means that the Deputy has deliberately incited his constituents to murder. He made a lot of statements but not in one of them did he give the slightest evidence. As a matter of fact, the gentleman on whose behalf he purported to speak, Thomas Murray, made a statement to the Guards to this effect:—"The detective officers" (he mentioned their names) "did not make use of any obscene language to my sister or to me. I was suffering from a cold at the time, but I was not too bad. I was working around as usual." That shows the complete want of regard for the truth which animates Deputy Corry.
The House adjourned at 10.40 p.m. until Thursday, 27th February.