Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 9 May 1928

Vol. 23 No. 10

WRITTEN ANSWERS. - CO. LONGFORD BURNINGS.

asked the Minister for Justice if he will state why James Patrick Murphy, of Prucklestown, County Longford, has been arrested on several occasions after malicious burnings in that area.

During the years 1926-1927 there were 11 cases of alleged malicious burnings in the locality in which James Patrick Murphy lives. His mother, Mrs. Margaret Murphy, was awarded compensation in three of these cases. She also got compensation for the spiking of her meadows and for the alleged malicious turning loose of her horses from her stables. Murphy came under suspicion and his movements were watched by the Gárda and he was discovered in the act of turning loose his mother's horses. He was prosecuted and fined. On four subsequent occasions when malicious burnings were reported Murphy was unable to give a satisfactory explanation of his movements and was arrested. In one case, where a cock of hay had been burned and a bundle of newspapers saturated with paraffin oil was found near the scene, it was observed that Murphy's trousers smelt strongly of paraffin. In this case he was returned for trial, but was acquitted by the jury. In the other three cases in respect of which Murphy was taken into custody informations were refused.

Barr
Roinn