HC Deb 17 July 1893 vol 14 cc1695-6
MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Government have any information as to the evictions threatened to be proceeded with by Mr. Richard Fuge, of County Cork, against some tenants residing near Bally-clough; is he aware that these tenants are not to be evicted for non-payment of rent from their holdings, of which they have been in possession for over 40 years, but on a technical legal point; and, as these tenants have offered to allow a judicial rent to be fixed and are willing to pay all arrears of rent due, will the Forces of the Crown be placed at the disposal of the landlord for the purpose of evicting them and their families from their homes? I beg, also, to ask the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been called to the proceedings in the Court of Appeal in the case of Fuge against Nugent; whether he is aware that a jury had found for the tenant Nugent, and decided that he was a tenant from year to year within the meaning of the Act, and that the Court of Appeal reversed this finding of the jury, Lord Justice Fitzgibbon expressing the hope that both parties would be in a position to resume negotiations with a view of coming to an understanding, and that Lord Justice Barry considered that if the agreements had been produced in an English Court they would have been held to confer a tenancy upon the tenant; and, if so, will the Government intervene with a view to prevent the eviction of Nugent and other tenants similarly circumstanced?

MR. J. MORLEY

As regards these questions, the police, with whom I have been in communication, have no information of any threatened evictions on the property referred to. The case against Nugent appears to have turned upon the point whether he was a regular tenant in title, or only the holder of a dairy farm with a tenure from year to year. A jury found there was a tenancy, but the Court of Exchequer unanimously held that there was no evidence of a tenancy, and that the case ought not to have been submitted to a jury. This view was unanimously affirmed by the Court of Appeal. The Government have no authority to intervene as suggested.

MR. FLYNN

Is it not a fact that these tenants have held the farms 40 years, that they have always been looked upon as tenants from year to year, and that their sole desire is to have a judicial rent fixed?

MR. J. MORLEY

I cannot say that; but, so far as my information goes, there is nothing in it contrary to the statement of the hon. Member.