§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland 1033 whether he can state under what circumstances contracts for the erection of glass houses in the Phœnix Park, Dublin, were given to a Scottish firm; and whether Irish firms were invited to tender for the erection of these houses.
(Answered by Mr. M'Kenna.) The Board of Works have informed me that these houses were urgently required and that the work is of a special character, both as regards the design, the details of construction, and the arrangements for ventilation. In these circumstances the Board gave the contract, after being satisfied that the terms were reasonable, to a firm of well-known specialists in this kind of work, who had executed contracts in the past to the Board's entire satisfaction. There are considerable building works in connection with the erection of the glass houses, and these, I understand, have been carried out either by Dublin contractors after tender or by the Board's workmen.