MR. NOLANI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the recommendations made after an inquiry held by the Local Government Board in October, 1886, into certain schemes for the erection of labourers' dwellings in the Castlebellingham Division of Ardee Union, County Louth, Ireland; and, whether any further steps have been taken in the matter, and, if not, what has been the cause of the delay?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Local Government Board duly made a Provisional Order in connection with the erection of the cottages, and sanctioned a loan for the purpose. The subsequent delay appears to have arisen through informalities in the applications made to the Land Commission to have fair rents fixed for the lands taken, and to the death of the landlord, which rendered further action on the part of the Guardians necessary. The matter, however, is now in a forward state.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI presume the Local Authorities, but I cannot be sure of that.
MR. NOLANI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that an improvement scheme for the erection of a labourers' dwelling in the townland of Haggardstown was made on the 14th November, 1887, by the Guardians of Dundalk Union, County Louth; that the local inquiry was held on 29th March, 1889; and that no opposition was offered on the part of either landlord or tenant; and, whether the Guardians are still of opinion that a necessity exists for the carrying out of the scheme; and, if so, why the sanction of the Local Government Board is withheld?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe facts are substantially as stated in the first paragraph. The dwelling proposed to be provided by the scheme was intended to replace a house occupied when the scheme was made and condemned by the Medical Officer as unfit for human habitation; but on the Local Government Inspector visiting this house on the occasion of his inquiry, he found it closed and vacant, and learned that the man who occupied it had obtained a house and employment elsewhere. The Local Government Board therefore, on the Inspector's recommendation, declined to sanction the Guardians' proposal on the ground that the new cottage was not required. The Guardians have not made any communication to the Local Government Board showing that necessity now exists for the house referred to.