Vol. 1 No. 31
I have received a request from Senator Moore that we should resume the discussion adjourned from yesterday on his motion, and that we should do so before taking the ordinary business on the Orders of the Day. That could be done by agreement, and if there is general consent I should be prepared to do that.
Agreed.
I am thankful to those Senators who yesterday suggested an adjournment on this motion, because it is always a good thing to think over these matters. This is an important question, and a night's thought enables one to adjust matters. I have spoken this morning to a few Senators and we have made a slight alteration in the motion which, I think, will now be more agreeable to everybody. As far as we could gather the motion is now in accordance with the views of Senators who made suggestions yesterday. The motion itself will stand as it did, but there is a prefix to it which is different from the affix which was to it originally. The motion will now read:—"That the Government be requestéd to re-open with the British Government the question of the release or handing over to the Irish Government of Joseph Dowling, an ex-private of the Connaught Rangers, agreeably to the following resolution:—
"‘That in the opinion of the Seanad the British Government should release or hand over to the Irish Government Joseph Dowling, an ex-private of the Connaught Rangers, of Irish nationality, arrested in Ireland, who is at present undergoing a life sentence of penal servitude in England in respect of an offence, political or quasi-political, committed prior to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and that in passing this Resolution, the Seanad has in mind (1) the International and Constitutional aspect of the case, and (2) the adverse effect on the harmonious relations between Ireland and Great Britain produced by the continued retention of this prisoner.'"
Senators know that there is no disagreement with our Government and that our effort in this matter is only to strengthen their hands. They have done the best they could up to now and it is for the Seanad to do what it can. We hope that the Dáil will do the same. I beg to move the Resolution.
To put the matter in order I take it that the Senator asks leave to withdraw the motion of yesterday, and to substitute this motion in its place. I take it that is agreeable to Senator Sir Bryan Mahon, who is the seconder.
Yes, I beg to second the resolution.
Is the Seanad agreeable to give leave to Senator Moore to withdraw the motion moved yesterday, and to substitute this motion in its place?
Agreed.
I beg to support the motion which is now before us. I think it was the intention of the Seanad yesterday that we should ask the Government to take action in the matter. We were all perfectly satisfied that they had done so already. but we felt that it was incumbent upon us to ask them to go a little further, and if it has been turned down to have it reopened, and to have a case which stands between England and us, and which does not make for harmony, perfectly adjusted. There is no necessity to labour the question of Dowling's innocence or guilt, but we feel, as it was put by Senator Sir Bryan Mahon, that England has made a great case out of this. At the time of Dowling's arrest there was a great scare about a German plot, and Dowling was glorified into a prisoner in the Tower, and so on. England does not wish now to go back on that. We feel that England must go back on that, and that if she does not go back on it, the relations between England and Ireland will be strained. For that reason I think that resolution should be passed and the Government urged to have this matter reconsidered.
In yesterday's debate Senator Moore and other Senators made a most convincing and irresistible case for the release of this man Dowling, and that the British Government, in face of these facts which must be known to them, have not released this man appears incomprehensible. They have released men of more ability, men who have capacity for doing more serious injury to British interests. Yet they keep in prison this poor illiterate man who has already served a long sentence. I understand that our Government have already brought this case very strongly before the British authorities. Yet the British authorities seem not to have taken any action in the matter such as they were requested to do. At the inception of the Free State the Government introduced an Amnesty Bill, a most generous Bill, that was intended to blot out all the bitter memories of the past, and it was expected that the British Government, on their side, would reciprocate and release all the prisoners as had been done in the case of the Free State. It seems that they are pursuing this man Dowling in some spirit of vindictiveness, and I assume that Senator Moore has brought this motion before the Seanad as a sort of forlorn hope, that through their intervention something will eventually be done. The case of Dowling is one that, I think, opens up a much larger issue. If the British Government is induced by this motion to release this man, I think that that could be put before the Northern Government as an object lesson to them of clemency which they could extend to the prisoners who are in their jails. At present there are great numbers of prisoners in Northern gaols. There are three men in Derry gaol who, it is considered, were arrested contrary to the terms of the Truce, and no inducement seems to be able to get the Northern Government to release them. Dowling's case is, I think, relevant to their cases. If the British Government shows clemency in his case it would be natural to expect that the Northern Government could be prevailed on in the same way to show clemency in the case of these three men. There are also internees on board the Argenta, suffering great hard ship. They were brought away from their homes, their business had been dislocated, and their dependants are in a state of hardship. I think there again our Government should bring before the Northern Government the necessity of giving these men trial or else releasing them at once. We are told that there is peace in the Northern province. It is a peace based on terror, intimidation and the torpor of despair. It is not a genuine peace. I think the release of the men who are now in Northern gaols and on board the Argenta would not in any way be detrimental to the future peace of the Six Counties. I hope this motion will be passed unanimously by the Seanad and that it will have the desired effect on the British Government.
I would like to know if the resolution now before the Seanad is the same resolution that was brought forward yesterday?
The preface is a little different.
Only the preface. The point I wish to raise is, without going into the merits or demerits of Dowling's case, that I think the form the resolution takes is one that is unconstitutional and out of order. I read here, "that the Government be requested to forward this resolution to the British Government." It is on that point I raise the matter.
May I point out that before Senator Guinness arrived Senator Colonel Moore gave me to understand that there was more or less an agreed alteration of the motion on lines discussed yesterday. I put that to the Seanad, and in order to meet Senator Moore I asked if Senators would be willing to take it at the commencement of the business. The Seanad then gave Senator Moore leave to withdraw yesterday's motion. He is now moving another motion of which Senator Guinness has now received a copy. It is in substance the same resolution as the one we had yesterday, except that the paragraph at the end is deleted, and a somewhat similar paragraph is placed at the commencement. I think I ought to add that if it is the desire of the Seanad to debate this matter at some length, as they are entitled to do, we should go on with the business on the Orders of the Day, as we arranged that the Minister for Home Affairs would attend.
I will not waste the time of the Seanad any longer, as the new form in which this motion appears is a form with which I could agree. I certainly could not agree to vote in favour of the original resolution, as I think it would be absolutely unconstitutional that the Government should be asked to forward a resolution from the Seanad to the British Government.
