I asked the Minister for Justice to-day whether any prosecutions were pending in connection with the disturbances which took place at Tralee on October 6th, and if so whether such prosecutions would be before the Military Tribunal. The Minister for Justice replied that sufficient evidence had not yet been accumulated to make possible the formulation of any charges, and that the Government would do their best to bring the offenders to justice. He made no allusion to the Military Tribunal. Now I have felt obliged to revert to the matter on the motion for the adjournment of the House this evening because the problem of intimidation which has long been a serious one throughout the country has become especially serious during the last few weeks since the formation of the United Ireland Party.
The occurrences at Tralee would be serious in any event. They involved personal injury, quite severe personal injury, to General O'Duffy and to Deputy Lynch, an ex-Minister. They involved personal injuries to other individuals and danger of much more severe injuries and, perhaps, death to a large number of delegates who assembled at Tralee on that occasion. But what happened at Tralee is not an isolated occurrence and must be considered in conjunction with what has been taking place elsewhere during the last few weeks. The first outbreak of importance was in the City of Limerick some weeks ago. On that occasion the police did their duty and, as a result of their doing their duty, I understand that there were protests afterwards against the Civic Guards in which, to their shame, certain Fianna Fáil Deputies took part. These occurrences at Limerick were followed up by paragraphs in the official organ of the I.R.A. headed: "No free speech for traitors" and congratulating the persons concerned in the Limerick disturbances on their public-spirited conduct and inciting persons in Cork to do likewise. At the meeting held by the United Ireland Party in Cork, attempts were made along similar lines, but they proved unsuccessful, and then we had these occurrences in Tralee. Now the situation in the County Kerry seems to be especially bad because, as far as one can judge from the reports, the Civic Guards in County Kerry have been reduced to a condition almost of helplessness. On that occasion at Tralee there was a force, I understand, of somewhere about 75 Guards in the town. It appears to me very remarkable, in view of the threatening attitude of the crowd that had collected, that General O'Duffy and his companions were permitted to walk along a narrow street—Bridge Street— with lanes leading into it, without an escort of Guards on either side of them. They had no such escort and the result was that a number of hooligans were able to run up——