Government of Ireland
[Mr. M. Healy]. The hon. Member for Salisbury did make some feeble attempt to prove that in recent years the experiment of the Union was not perhaps a brilliant success, but, at any rate, not the ghastly failure it had been in the earlier years, during which it has been in force. Where is the proof of the prosperity which the hon. Gentleman tells us the Union has brought to Ireland? Ireland in 1801 had a population of 5,000,000. If she had progressed at the same ratio as other parts of the Empire she would now have a population of nearly 20,000,000. Where has the balance of 15,000,000 gone? They are scattered all over the earth. Why are they so scattered? Scotland in 1801 had a population of less than 2,000,000. She has now a greater population than Ireland. The hon. Member spoke of the prosperity which the Union had brought to Ireland. Will he explain these pregnant facts? The hon. Member, quoting the hon. Member for North Tyrone, had the courage to say that Ireland did not prosper under Grattan's Parliament. Why! the locus classicus is the speech of Lord Clare introducing the Act of Union, in which he gave a glowing account of the progress in wealth, commerce, and manufactures which had taken place during the period of the independence of the Irish Parliament. My conviction is that, as we have lost in population so we have lost in wealth during the century. We hear a great deal of the imports and exports of Ireland. Certainly, the figures are startling. It appears that we have a greater trade, imports and exports, per head of the population than any country in Europe. I have a profound belief that these remarkable figures are not evidence of Irish prosperity. At the date of the Union our imports and exports were not as large, but the farmer produced what he required. Now the agriculturist in Ireland sells what he grows and buys everything he consumes, and yet we are told that these extraordinary figures of imports are proof of Irish prosperity.Close