§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can state what steps have been taken by the Fishguard and Rosslare Railways and Harbour Company to carry out the undertaking embodied in their agreement with the Treasury of the year 1898 to construct a direct line of railway between Cork and Fermoy; and whether a contract for the construction of the line has yet been entered into; and when work on the line is likely to be commenced.
§ MR. HANBURYNo steps have been taken towards the construction of this portion of the company's undertaking, and no contract has been entered into. No portion whatever of the proposed Treasury grant of £93,000 will be paid until at least half of each line (that from Fermoy to Cork, as well as that from Rosslare to Waterford) is completed, and the grant as a whole is dependent upon the whole work being completed before 1st August, 1904. The £93,000 payable to the Treasury by the company has been allowed to remain outstanding at a low rate of interest; but in view of the apparent reluctance to begin the Fermoy and Cork portion of the undertaking I propose to require the immediate payment of this sum, unless satisfactory assurance is at 1339 once given that the Fermoy and Cork branch will be undertaken without further delay and completed before August, 1904.
§ CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)Has any portion of the line been surveyed?
§ MR. HANBURYI have no information beyond that I have given.