§ MR. P. J. O'BRIEN (Tippcrary, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that, in the case of the recent Local Government Board inquiry into the scheme for labourers' cottages of the Nenagh Board of Guardians, a site for a proposed cottage on the lands of one Thomas Moloney, in the Ballina division, was objected to in the Inspector's Report, on the ground that, in his opinion, the selection of the site was injudicious, and that, if the plot was acquired, the occupier would, in all probability, be subjected to considerable annoyance; whether he is aware the cottage in this case was sought to be pro- 785 vided by the Guardians (acting on the representation of 12 ratepayers in the district) for a labourer, named Hackett, who, with a family of five, has been obliged to live in lodgings for the past two years, there being no house available in the district; whether the Guardians, by resolution of their Board on the 26th of April last, appealed to the Local Government Board not to abandon this site for a cottage, stating that, in their opinion, there were no just grounds for so doing; that the objections raised by Moloney on the inquiry were not in accordance with the facts: and that they (the Guardians) were satisfied that there were no grounds for the suggestion that Moloney, in the event of the cottage being built and occupied by Hackett, would be (as the Report stated) subject to any annoyance; and if he will advise the Local Government Board to respond to the Guardians' request for a further inquiry into the facts of this case?
MR. J. MORLEYThe facts stated in the question are correct, but the main fact of the case has been omitted—namely, that the person for whom the cottage is proposed was evicted from a house on the same lands about three years ago. The Local Government Board Inspector considered that the selection of a site for a cottage for this man on this particular farm was injudicious, as, in all probability, the occupier of the farm would be subjected to annoyance if the labourer who had been evicted were put back on his lands.