asked the Minister for Justice if he will state whether it was upon his instructions that detectives were sent by motor car on Sunday, 6th May, to Limerick to supervise the movements of a Deputy, and, if not, by whose instractions were they so sent; and if he will state what public purpose such action was intended to serve.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Movements of a Deputy.
No special instructions were issued by me nor, so far as I am aware, by anybody else on the occasion referred to. I understand, however, that a Deputy to whom the police are affording special protection was in Limerick on the date mentioned and the police officers whose duty it is to protect him were naturally there also.
Is the Minister aware that the Deputy in question left Dublin on Saturday, that at 12 o'clock on the following Sunday a carload of detectives turned up in Limerick, that they saw the Deputy for about 20 minutes and later on, after six o'clock, for about a quarter of an hour on the road? Is that the type of protection the Minister calls special protection? What type of return is given for the expenditure of large sums of public money in that connection and what particular purpose is served?
If Deputies want to make it awkward for the people sent to protect them, we cannot help that.
But is it not the Minister who has made this type of protection impossible?
No; it is the people who are trying to evade the persons anxious to protect them.