Yesterday I asked the Minister for Justice certain questions in connection with recent events at Edgeworthstown and the President of the Executive Council thought them of sufficient importance to answer them in person. I asked (1) whether on the 5th November last the Edgeworthstown Town Tenants' Association passed a resolution inviting the intervention of the I.R.A. in the Sanderson Estate dispute; (2) whether, on the 20th November last, the same association, having announced that the I.R.A. had accepted the above-mentioned invitation, passed a further resolution inviting the I.R.A. to hold a public meeting in Edgeworthstown; (3) whether a public meeting under the auspices of the I.R.A. was held at Edgeworthstown on the 2nd December last, and whether incitements to violence were uttered at that meeting in the presence of members of the Gárda Síochána.
The President answered all these questions in the affirmative and he admitted that these matters had been published in the Press and had otherwise been brought to the attention of the authorities. He further admitted that no action had been taken by the Department of Justice or the Gárda Síochána other than to make arrangements for preventing a breach of the peace on the occasion of the meeting on the 2nd December and to institute patrols in the neighbourhood of Mr. More O'Ferrall's place. It was not stated on what date the patrols were instituted or whether they continued up to and including the date of the murder. I think I am not going too far in describing these answers by the President of the Executive Council as sensational. I hope, quite honestly, for the sake of the reputation of the country and for the sake of the future of the country, that he will be able to disclose further matters to-night that will put his answers in a more favourable light than that in which they at present appear.
Prior to the invitation extended by the Town Tenants' Association to the I.R.A., the association had already exhausted every conceivable constitutional means of pressure and propaganda in order to get their way. Their task was rendered easier by the fact that leading members of the Town Tenants' Association were also leading members of the local Fianna Fáil club. What, then, ought the Civic Guard and the Department of Justice to have inferred from the decision of that association to bring the I.R.A. on the scene? What would they have inferred supposing it was a group of farmers who were objecting to the payment of the land annuities and had successfully invited the I.R.A. to come upon the scene? Surely what they ought to have inferred—and what they would have inferred had it been the case of farmers objecting to the payment of land annuities—is that having failed with constitutional methods, it was proposed to see what violence could achieve. The invitation to a body which boasts of possessing arms and claims to judge of when and where to use those arms was in itself a threat to peace and order and the reign of law which ought to have evoked the immediate attention of the authorities. Why did it not do so? Partly, perhaps, because of the traditional Fianna Fáil policy of patience and brotherly love towards terrorist organisations; but I think, perhaps, more especially it was due to the fact that those who were bringing in the I.R.A. were many of them prominent supporters of Fianna Fáil and were in close touch with the Fianna Fáil Deputies representing the constituency.
I suggest then that the first dereliction of duty on the part of the Department of Justice was when it failed to put an immediate stop to the whole business of bringing in the I.R.A.
Secondly, there is the matter of the public meeting under the auspices of the I.R.A. Mr. More O'Ferrall asked in vain that that meeting should be prevented from taking place. The President says that the Gárda Síochána "took whatever steps they considered necessary to prevent a breach of the peace." What were these steps? Civic Guards were sent to the meeting. Presumably if those who attended it had proceeded to march forthwith cn masse to Mr. More O'Ferrall's house the Guards would have intervened to prevent them doing so. However, the Guards did nothing to stop language of a very inflammatory character uttered at that meeting, language calculated and intended to produce a breach of the peace. Reports of the meeting were published in the Longford Leader and in An Phoblacht. These reports make it clear that there was incitement not to pay rents and that threats were uttered against anyone who should dare to do so. I shall not detain the House by reading extracts from the Press reports, but in case my statements are challenged I have them here and I am prepared to substantiate what I have said. Apart from what was published in the newspapers, I am informed on good authority that much more violent things were said than were published in the Press, including direct threats against the person and even the life of Mr. More O'Ferrall. These were presumably reported to their superiors by the Civic Guards who were present. Even so the Department took no action except that it was then perhaps that the patrols of which the President speaks were started. The effectiveness of these patrols can be judged by the fact that it was found possible for four men to arrive in a motor car drive up to the house and to shoot up the household without interference. I understand it was several hours after the occurrence before the family were able to get any sort of protection or assistance.
These facts speak for themselves and seem to constitute an overwhelming Indictment of the Department of Justice. The very circumstance that for reasons of their own the Government have refrained from declaring the I.R.A. an unlawful association puts all the greater onus on them to give full protection to the citizens of this country when mischief at the hands of that body in manifestly in the wind. It would appear, prima facie, that the obvious duty of the Department of Justice was neglected on that occasion. It was neglected, I am afraid, for the sake of party advantage and out of subservience to the local Fianna Fáil clubs.
The present case appears to have been a particularly flagrant one. I am informed that the rents in Edgeworthstown are low as compared with other similar towns and it appears that some of those taking part in the agitation are getting more by subletting a room or two rooms in the house than they are paying for the entire house. Further the beneficiary of the estate is in a mental home and so far from there being a bloated plutocrat, I am informed that her income is barely sufficient to maintain her in that mental home. Further, the estate is administered under the direct orders of the court and it is by direction of the court that Mr. More O'Ferrall has been bound to act in every matter affecting the collection and the reduction of rents.
A cruel and cowardly murder has been committed, not without warning, not out of a clear sky, not in a sudden and unexpected affray, but as the logical outcome of circumstances well known to the authorities and of activities flowing naturally from the propaganda and principles of the Irish Republican Army. Whether the persons who did the deed were actually members of that organisation, of course I do not know, but it is certain that for a considerable period of time drilling, recruiting and incitement to violence were in full swing at Edgeworthstown from the date of the I.R.A. accepting the invitation to come in and help. The I.R.A., therefore, cannot escape a heavy responsibility, whoever were the persons who actually did the deed; neither it would seem, can the Department of Justice escape a heavy responsibility for gross negligence, or rather for even worse than negligence—for an absolutely reckless inactivity inspired by Party considerations. The Department of Justice is at present prosecuting farmers from County Cork for utterances in connection with the payment of land annuities which, according to the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Geoghegan, K.C., were regarded as largely humbug because of the peaceable and law-abiding behaviour of the accused. I ask the House to meditate on the comparative seriousness of the events in Cork and in Edgeworthstown and to meditate also upon the contrast between the view of its duty which the Department of Justice took in the one case and in the other.
