The answer given me to-day by the Minister for Justice to the question I put him with regard to the treatment of George Gilmore would indicate that the Minister must have been deliberately misinformed as to the exact details in connection with this matter or, if he has not been misinformed, and has the facts at his disposal, he is not desirous of giving this House a proper answer regarding the treatment to which Mr. Gilmore has been subjected. The Minister admits that Mr. Gilmore, in the month of November, was arrested on two occasions. No charge was preferred against him and no reason was given for his detention. The Minister states that on one occasion it became necessary to have him removed to hospital, and as to the other occasion, he is not aware of the facts. On Sunday, 10th November, which was the second occasion on which Mr. Gilmore was arrested, when proceeding down Harcourt Street he was accosted by C.I.D. men, who told him that they were going to take him to the police station. He resisted, as he had done on the previous occasion, because no reason was given as to why he should be detained. He tried to attract attention to his predicament by shouting, and a small crowd gathered. The C.I.D. men were not able to make him proceed to the police station willingly, and they assumed that the crowd would become hostile. Detective Officer Coughlan, who was in charge, ordered his subordinate to draw his revolver and told him in the hearing of these people that he was to shoot, but to shoot Mr. Gilmore first and then to fire on the crowd.
The next thing that happened was that Mr. Gilmore was beaten on the head with the butt of a revolver until he became unconscious. He was carried in this unconscious state to Kevin Street police barracks. He was revived by means of water being thrown over him in the yard of the barracks, and at 1 o'clock the police in charge of him thought he was sufficiently recovered to be able to go home, and he was released, notwithstanding the fact that he would have to get to Killakee at 1 o'clock in the morning. Mr. Gilmore, who was still bleeding from some of the wounds in his head, proceeded to Mercer's hospital and was admitted to the accident ward and treated by the doctor. I took the trouble to go to Mercer's Hospital and I have here a certificate from the house physician. The Minister may probably say, as he did on a previous occasion, that Mr. Gilmore was kicked by a horse or a cow, but I would advise him to find out first of all from the hospital whether Mr. Gilmore's wounds could have been obtained in any other manner but by his having been struck on the head with a very sharp instrument. In his certificate, which he has given voluntarily, the doctor states: "This is to certify that Mr. George Gilmore, of Killakee, Co. Dublin, was treated at this hospital on the night of November 10th for head injuries. He had two hæmatomata with two small incised wounds on the crown of the head. He was detained here overnight and discharged next morning." I asked the doctor if these wounds in the head could have been obtained in any other manner but by having received blows on the head. The doctor told me that the certificate should be sufficient evidence to show it was so, that there could be no other way but by having been struck on the head. The wounds which he describes are two covered by clots of blood and two other wounds which were bleeding. He had four definite wounds on the head.
