§ MR. MAGUIRE (Glare, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that a representation was made to the Ennistimon Board of Guardians last January respecting the insanitary condition of labourers' cottages in the Miltown Malbay District, and that up to now no notice has been taken of the representation; and whether, having reference to the deplorable conditions of those dwellings, the Government is powerless to alleviate in some measure this pressing evil?
MR. J. MORLEYIt appears that in January, 1893, a number of labourers went before the Ennistimon Board of Guardians to apply for cottages, and staled that some of the existing dwellings were in a bad condition. The matter was considered at a special meeting of the Guardians held on January 24, and a resolution passed to the effect that the Guardians were of opinion that there was no necessity for erecting labourers' cottages in the Miltown Malbay Electoral Division. The Guardians added that, even if cottages were required, the financial state of the Division would not admit of their erection. No formal "representation," as defined by the Labourers Acts, has been made to the Guardians for the erection of cottages in this Division, and in the absence of such a representation the Local Government Board have, I am informed, no power to direct an inquiry to be held into the action of the Guardians in declining lo proceed with the erection of cottages. If it is brought to the notice of the Sanitary Authority that any of the houses are unfit for habitation it is their duty, under the Public Health Act, to require the owners to put them into proper repair.