§ MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that at a recent meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction members of the committee, nominated or otherwise, were called upon to vote in connection with the granting of a sum of £3,000 to an independent trading concern called the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society; is he aware that some of those members who voted in favour of it had a direct personal and pecuniary interest in obtaining the grant, and that the Vice-President, Sir Horace Plunkett, made no protest against their action; and whether 377 he will communicate the views of the Government concerning this allocation of public funds to the Vice-President of the Department.
MR. BRYCEThe Department of Agriculture understand that by the "Advisory Committee of the Department" is meant the Council of Agriculture, and that the vote referred to is that given at the recent meeting of the council recommending that the Department should promote agricultural organisation through the agency of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, which, it should be pointed out, is not a trading body. The members of the council present at the conclusion of the discussion on this subject, both elected and nominated—seventy-seven in number—exercised their right to vote on the question. The Department are not aware that any members of the council have a pecuniary interest in the matter, except perhaps in the case of one nominated member of the council, Mr. Anderson, the Secretary of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society. Even if no nominated member had voted, there would still, I am informed, have been a majority in favour of the vote which was carried. As I have already stated, the legality of these payments to the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society is being considered by the law officers.