§ MR. MCFADDEN (Donegal,E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Henry McCool, of Druminany, Raphoe, county Donegal, in the year 1899 applied to the Strabane No. 2 Rural District Council for a labourer's cottage, on the ground that his house had been condemned by the medical officer of health as unfit for habitation; that the Local Government Board for Ireland wrote to Henry McCool on the 23rd July, 1901, that steps were being taken to carry out an improvement scheme under which he would be provided with a cottage; that in 1902 McCool was compelled to leave his house, on the ground that a labourer's cottage was about to be built on its site, and had to take lodgings in the house of a neighbour; that a labourer's cottage was built on the site of the old house and on its completion was given to a man 1366 named Porterfield who did not belong to the district at all; and whether, seeing that McCool has now got notice to leave the lodgings where he has resided since 1902 and cannot get accommodation in the district, the Local Government Board will direct the Strabane No. 2 Rural District Council to take steps to provide him with a cottage.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe statements in the Question are accurate, but they omit an important factor in the case—namely, that the cottage was originally applied for by Porterfield. The district council has decided to let the cottage to this man, and it appears that the council is now preparing a further scheme which includes a cottage for McCool.