§ MR. DELANY (Queen's County, Ossory)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether any intimation has been forwarded to the Board of Works from the Department of Agriculture, requesting that an inspection should be made of the River Barrow by a qualified expert; and, if so, what steps have been taken in the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) An intimation to this effect was communicated to the Board of Public Works on behalf not of the Department but of the Council of Agriculture. The Council was of opinion that such an inspection would serve as a useful preliminary to further action, involving liberal aid from public funds, without which no proper remedy could be provided. It has already been pointed out that the cost of undertaking the drainage of the Barrow would very largely exceed the estimate (£354.000) framed by the Royal Commission in 1887. There is no prospect of obtaining funds upon such a scale for this purpose, and consequently no useful object would be gained by having an inspection made as suggested.