§ MR. DUFFY (Galway, S. )To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the resolutions unanimously passed by the Loughrea Rural District Council on the 12th January last, with reference to the poverty and distress existing in the congested and other districts of the union; and whether, having regard to the necessities of the case, he will bring the matter at once under the notice of the Congested Districts Board and the Board of Agriculture, so that free grants of suitable seeds may be given to the very poor occupiers living in those districts.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) The Board of Guardians of Loughrea Union have accepted tenders for the supply of over 250 tons of seed potatoes, and the union will be entitled to a share of the grant made by the Department of Agriculture towards the reduction of the price of seed to the purchasers. It is not the intention of either of the Departments referred to, to give free grants of seed to occupiers of laud in this or any other union.