§ MR. MCDERMOTT (Kilkenny, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, (1) will he 849 state how many police are engaged in protecting Dwyer Brothers at Cragrae Tulla, County Clare; (2) whether John Dwyer, Caher, County Clare, has also police protection, and what is the cost, and are the police so engaged charged to the county as extra police; (3) whether he is aware that Patrick Dwyer bought the Caher Estate recently, at a time that the tenants had almost agreed with their landlord Robert O'Hara, Ontario, Canada, to purchase at 13 years' purchase on judicial rents; (4) whether he can state how many years purchase on judicial rents Dwyer gave for the property; and (5) whether, in view of the fact that the delay of negotiations and final settlement between these tenants and their landlords was owing to dilatory proceedings on the part of the Land Commission, he will take any steps to give the tenants now in possession an opportunity of purchasing their holdings?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThere are five policemen engaged in protecting the Dwyer Brothers, and Mr. John Dwyer, their brother-in-law, is also protected by three constables. The estimated annual cost of the two parties of police, who form part of the extra force in the county, is about £550, one-half of which is chargeable to the county at large. I am aware that Mr. Patrick Dwyer bought the estate in November 1894; the tenants, I believe, were anxious to purchase, but I have no knowledge of their having made an offer of thirteen years' purchase, or any definite offer. The sale to Mr. Patrick Dwyer was a private one and the amount paid is not known to the police. With regard to the last paragraph, I am informed that no purchase agreements between the late owner of the estate and the tenants have ever been lodged in the office of the Land Commission under the Land Purchase Acts.