§ MR. J. TUITE (Westmeath, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, having regard to the interesting character of the ruins at Fore, county Westmeath, any steps will be taken by the Irish Board of Works, at the coming meeting 1648 of the Ancient Monuments Committee, to have the gateways of the old town, the monastery, and the chapel of St. Fechin, the cyclopean doorway of which has been described by the eminent traveller, Edward Dodwell, as equal to any he had seen in Greece, at Tyros, Argos, or elsewhere, scheduled as ancient monuments under the Ancient Monuments Acts; and whether, as the Royal Society of Antiquaries requested the Board of Works in July, 1892, to bring the ruins at Fore under the protection of the Acts mentioned, and the Board of Works was unable to do so owing to want of money, preference will now be given to the claims of Fore in the event of funds being available?
§ MR. HANBURYIn 1880 the Commissioners of Public Works approached the late Lord Greville, who owned the estate on which the ruins at Fore, county Westmeath, are situated, with a view to have them vested in the Board, but as Lord Greville declined to do so at that time no further action could be taken. The Royal Society of Antiquaries requested the Commissioners in July, 1892, to bring the ruins under the protection of the Ancient Monuments Acts, and the Board were anxious to have them vested in them for preservation. But the estate on which the ruins are situate forms the subject of a petition for sale in the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice, and though the Board's solicitor has since July, 1893, been in communication with the solicitors having charge of the sale, it has not been possible to obtain the consent of all the parties interested, which is necessary to the vesting of the ruins in the Board.