MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state the number of steamers which 1461 ply along the coasts of Donegal, Mayo, and Galway which receive subsidies from the Congested Districts Board, and the annual amount of those subsidies; and, considering the necessity for improving the means of communication amongst the congested headlands of Cork and Kerry, and the failure of the Congested Districts Board to grant subsidies to steamers on the Cork and Kerry Coasts, whether the Congested Districts Board would help to place a large steamer plying in Bantry Bay, and calling at Garnish, Castletown, Berehaven, Adrigole, and Glengarriff, in order to develop the fishing and agricultural industries and the tourist traffic?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURAt present the Congested Districts Board are subsidising two steamer services on the coast of the congested districts, namely, the Donegal Steamship Company, of Derry, for the coast of Donegal, from Derry to Donegal, calling at 11 ports. This company receives £600 a year for a period of three years, from the 1st July last, subject to certain conditions, and they have two steamers on the service. The Galway Bay Steamboat Company, of Galway, receives £700 a year, for 10 years, from 1st February 1892, for a regular service, three times a week, from Galway to the Aran Islands. Any representations that may be made to the Congested Districts Board in favour of the establishment of a steamer service in Bantry Bay will be considered by that Board in due course.