§ MR. SHEEHY (Galway, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is true, as stated in the press, that the cost of evicting six families on Lord Clanricarde's property in Galway has cost £10,000, of which the taxpayers of the United Kingdom will have to pay £6,000; whether that sum would have bought the fee simple of the evicted lands many times over; what is the sum due to the landlord by these six tenants, for the non-payment of which they have been evicted at such cost; and, how much of the expense will be borne by the landlord?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. HOLMES) (Dublin University)(who replied) said: It is impossible to estimate with anything like approximate accuracy the cost of carrying out the evictions referred to; and Her Majesty's Government is not aware of the amount due to the landlord; but it may be taken that the cost of carrying out the evictions was much in excess of the amount due. It 1313 is obvious, however, that the Government cannot be governed, when called on to assist in enforcing legal process, by the proportion which the cost of doing so bears to the amount recovered.