asked the Minister for Justice if, in the case of incidents along the Border, in which the actual location of the action is in dispute, he will state the methods used and the evidence relied on by the Government in determining on which side of the Border such incidents took place.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Border Incidents.
88.
The answer depends on the circumstances of each case. If the dispute concerns whether the incident occurred in, say, one townland rather than another, one of the townlands being in the North and the other in the South, what is usually most relevant is the evidence of the people, including perhaps members of the Garda Síochána, who may have been in the vicinity. If, on the other hand, the dispute is not about the identification of the area in which an incident occurred but about whether that area is in the North or in the South, the county engineer or one of his assistants is consulted and no doubt, if it were necessary for him to do so, he would consult the Ordnance Survey map.
In a case where two townlands are in dispute, on whom does the Minister rely for evidence? He has stated what happens if members of the Garda Síochána are present. If members of the Garda Síochána are not present when the incident takes place, on whom does the Minister rely for information regarding the incident?
If the members themselves were not present at the time of the incident, they would ask people who were present at the time what the circumstances of the incident were. Unfortunately, one cannot always rely on that sort of information, but if the Garda were not present themselves they would have to assess that as best they could.
If an incident took place when members of the Garda Síochána were not present but 300 or 400 people, including councillors or Deputies of this House claimed that the incident took place in the Republic or that something was fired into the Republic, and if they had an independent photograph or photographs to substantiate their evidence, on whom would the Minister then rely for evidence?
I think I have already answered that: if the police were not present they ask some person or persons who were present. Of course one very often gets conflicting reports from people who were present, because civilians are not always the most reliable witnesses.
I saw an incident last Saturday week together with 300 or 400 other people. I can produce photographs from different magazines and newspapers to substantiate my evidence. I have here a reply from the Ceann Comhairle——
The matter may not be raised in this fashion.
——saying the Minister has no responsibility in the matter. I understand this is because the incident did not take place in the Republic. If what the Minister has said is correct, how is it that he has no responsibility in the matter?
That is not the question asked.
I do not see any connection between what I have said and the incident to which the Deputy refers and which does not seem to arise out of the question.
If the Minister accepts my explanation of what happened——
The Deputy is enlarging on the question asked.
——then he has responsibility in the matter.