§ MR. J. MAINS (Donegal, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether his attention has been drawn to the failure of the potato crop in the districts of Glengask, Malin and Clonmany, County Donegal; and whether, in view of the threatened destitution in these districts, he will have relief works started there?
MR. J. MORLEYThe Local Government Board have received representations as to the existence of distress in the districts of Donegal referred to in the question, and have recently made careful inquiries into the condition of the people there. There is no doubt that much poverty exists in the locality, as the people almost entirely depend on the fishing for support, and this has not been 453 successful of late. It does not appear, however, that the distress is such as to justify the opening of relief works, and I have asked the Local Government Board inspector, who was instructed to attend the meeting of the guardians to be held to-day, to report to me the result of his further investigations.