§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)I hog to ask the Secretary to the Treasury who is responsible for the present delay in selecting a site for a post office in Dundalk, the Board of Works, the Secretary of the General Post Office, Dublin, or the Treasury; whether eight central sites were offered to the Post Office authorities during the last 18 months, and were all rejected on the ground of being too expensive, and, whether for the last seven months three other central sites, in the principal street of the town, were offered to the authorities, and that no satisfactory reply has been received by any of the vendors as to whether any of them will be selected; whether the Post 1599 Office authorities are satisfied with any of these sites, and whether the Treasury have declined to consent to the purchase on the ground of expense; and, whether, as he is aware, the postal authorities admit that the present Dundalk office is neither large enough for the officials nor for the accommodation of the public, the Treasury will consent to advance the requisite amount to purchase the most central of these sites, seeing that it is four years since the negotiations for a site began?
§ MR. HANBURYAs has been explained to the hon. Member in pursuance of the promise made to him in my reply to his previous Question of the 6th instant on the subject, no less than 12 sites suggested for the new Post Office at Dundalk have been examined and rejected, mostly on the ground that they were too expensive. This has been the cause of the delay which has taken place in the matter, and none of the Departments indicated can be held responsible for it. The Postmaster General has just received a further report from the Board of Public Works upon the other sites mentioned, and he hopes to be able to make a definite proposal to the Treasury in regard to one of them shortly.