I put a question which appeared on the Order Paper last Wednesday, and the Minister for Justice refused to answer my question because he stated that he had not made sufficient inquiries about the matter mentioned in the question. After having made sufficient inquiries, as he seemed to admit, he decided to-day that he would not answer the question. I think that is certainly a disgraceful attitude for the Minister to take up, particularly as the matters mentioned in my question had to do with what I think is a very important matter. Since the Minister has refused to answer my question at all, I submit that there is no other reason for his refusal than that he has played an underhand game in this matter, and has prevented the Gárda Síochána in Bangor Erris from bringing to justice an agent who evidently has broken the law in a serious manner. We have often been accused of not giving due appreciation to the Gárda for work done in this country, but we can never be charged with deliberately interfering with the work of the Gárda in the course of their plain duty. Unless the Minister gives me an explanation of his attitude, I charge him with deliberately interfering with the Gárda, with the Superintendent and Sergeant Doreen in Bangor Erris, deliberately interfering with these Gárda in the performance of their plain duty. I also charge a Deputy in Mayo——
Adjournment Debate. - Activities of Gárda Síochána in North Mayo.
The Deputy is dealing with the Minister, not with Deputies. He can deal with the Minister only now.
When I raised the matter on this day week, and when I saw the attitude of the Minister in refusing to reply then, although he had been given the necessary information by the Gárda in Bangor Erris——
That is absolutely untrue.
—I was suspicious that he would try to wriggle out of the matter, and I succeeded in getting from one of the men visited by the Gárda the statement asked for in the last part of the question. This is the statement made by one of the men visited by the Gárda:—
I, John Mullarkey, the undersigned, hereby certify that Peter McDonagh when gaffer on the Mount-jubilee road in 1927 collected from me and from the other men then working on the road 1/- each, at the same time telling us he wanted it for the purposes of Cumann na nGaedheal. I saw him getting shillings from many of the men. By his instructions I got 1/- each from some of the men and these shillings I got I paid to McDonagh in the presence of the men, he at the same time telling us we each would get receipts from headquarters for the money paid him. None of us has since then received cards or receipts for the moneys paid him. We were all induced to believe from the statements then made to us that the cards or receipts promised, insured us a continuance of work and earning, but for the last four years not one penny has been expended from any Government source in this area on any work, relief work, by-roads or other, and we know nothing whatsoever since 1927 of the moneys we paid McDonagh. Signed, John Mullarkey.
That is plain proof from a man who has admitted that he is a supporter of the Cumann na nGaedheal Party that he and others, many of whom are not supporters, were induced to subscribe to funds for being given the privilege of working on relief works in 1927. They were induced to subscribe funds to the Cumann na nGaedheal Organisation on a promise from the Cumann na nGaedheal agent that further work would be provided for them in the locality and that the money which this man collected would be sent to Cumann na nGaedheal headquarters. At a meeting on 1st October that was attended by Deputy Davis——
What is the connection of that with this question?
It was at this meeting the Gárda got information.
The Minister is not responsible for the Cumann na nGaedheal Organisation. He is only responsible for the Gárda.
A Deputy
That is the same thing.
It is not the same thing. This is a very important question. The scope of debate here is wide enough without debating what different political parties do.
The Gárda at this meeting heard McDonagh state that he collected money from these men. There was a communication to the Cumann na nGaedheal Headquarters the next day, the 2nd October, and in reply the statement was sent from the Secretary of the Cumann na nGaedheal Organisation that no money was received by them from McDonagh at any time and that no receipt was issued to him. On the receipt of that statement from the Cumann na nGaedheal Headquarters, the Gárda became suspicious that McDonagh had got this money by false pretences and had kept it himself; and they went to the workers from whom the money was got, amongst them being John Mullarkey of Frisha, Martin Tarpey, Francis Corduff, Pat Cosgrave and four others from Frisha. The Gárda took statements from those men and they also took a statement from Mr. Lindsay, the local Peace Commissioner, and others; and they were prepared to act on those statements and have this man arrested, and on 8th November word was brought to this man, McDonagh, that he was being arrested and charged with getting money by false pretences and forcing it from workers on the roads. McDonagh immediately induced two others, one of whom was Lindsay, to go to a certain Deputy in North Mayo and ask him to try to have influence worked with the Minister—I can get statements from those men if the Minister does not take my word—to prevent his arrest and that he would agree to pay the money to the Cumann na nGaedheal Headquarters. I do not want to go into the matter further. I do not want to make it a means of attacking an opponent of mine in North Mayo who stated here the other day——
I want to keep this confined to the Minister and to the Gárda Síochána.
It is hard.
It is hard but it will have to be done.
There are so many in collusion in this instance that it is hard to segregate them.
A Deputy cannot be indicted on the motion for the adjournment.
I want to know from the Minister why it is that he prevented the Gárda in Belmullet from acting in this matter when they are anxious, as I know very definitely they are, to do justice in this case and to bring this man before the courts. Why was it that they were not allowed to act? Why was it that the phones were used and that they were prevented from arresting this man? I must assume that it is for no other reason than that he is a Cumann na nGaedheal agent. And may I take it from the Minister now that the law is to be administered only as the Minister wishes that a Cumann na nGaedheal agent can induce people to part with funds, people who needed the shillings very badly, on any pretext with impunity? Can such a man go out and commit any crime he wishes? And is the man who preaches justice to us here, the man who is in charge of the Department of Justice, the man who accuses us of not paying tribute to the Gárda for their work—is that the man who deliberately prevents the Gárda from doing their duty for no other reason than that the culprit in question is a Cumann na nGaedheal agent? I should like the Minister to give me a clear explanation and have no wriggling in this matter.
I was asked a question to-day, and portion of that question I declined to answer. The Deputy asked me to mention the statements which were made to the Guards. I decline to tell him any statements made to the Guards; and I will always decline in this House to state what has been stated to the Guards by any persons in cases where they are investigating crime. And that the Deputy was not honest in that question is proved by the fact that the Deputy knew, at any rate in one instance, what had been stated to the Guards; and, therefore, the Deputy, in order that he might attack somebody whom evidently he does not like, was deliberately, in my opinion, misusing and abusing his position as Deputy in this House. The Deputy said that a Deputy from North Mayo spoke to me about this matter. That is utterly without foundation. It is a false statement that I should expect to come from the source from which it has come.
rose.
The Deputy was already heard in this matter.
Deputy Clery made a statement without the slightest shadow of foundation. Deputy Clery said that I had given instructions to the Guards in North Mayo not to proceed in this matter. I have given no instructions to the Guards in North Mayo about this matter. As a matter of fact, I had never heard about this matter until the Deputy put his question, and then I received a report upon it. From first to last the Deputy has been making wild charges, charges without the slightest shadow of foundation, just the type of charges that I should expect from an individual of the type of Deputy Clery.
Is the Minister not aware that Sergeant Doreen from Bangor-Erris has got this statement that I read out and sent a copy of it to the Minister's office, and does the Minister say that a charge of that kind that comes from the local sergeant is a false and ridiculous charge? Furthermore, I overheard the conversation between the Minister and Deputy Davis in this very House on last Wednesday.
There was no conversation between Deputy Davis and myself in which Deputy Davis made the slightest suggestion to me that the course of justice should be interfered with, and as far as Deputy Clery's statement that a copy of that document reached my Department is concerned, it did not.
Has the Minister received from the Gárda any report on this matter?
No, except the report which was necessary for the answer to the Deputy's question; and that was, as those reports are, a concise report and did not contain any details of the detailed statement made to the Gárda.
Did he not get a copy of the statement which I have read?
That is untrue.
The Dáil adjourned at 10.35 p.m. until Thursday, 10th December, at 3 p.m.