§ MR. McKEAN (Monaghan, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that eviction notices have recently been served on a number of tenants on the Shirley estate, Carrickmacross, county Monaghan; whether he is aware that negotiations for the purchase of their holdings by the tenants are proceeding; will he say whether the tenants on whom the notices of eviction have been served are willing to buy on terms fixed by the official inspector employed by the Estates Commissioners; whether he will disclose the main facts connected with the negotiations for sale and purchase as between Mr. Fottrell, who has carriage of the matter, on behalf of the trustees and the Estates Commissioners; whether he is aware that the trustees are trying to sell the estate in portions and on different terms; and whether, seeing that such a method of proceeding is contrary to the spirit of the Act of 1903, he will instruct the Estates Commissioners to refuse to advance the money necessary for such a piecemeal sale; whether he will ask the Estates Commissioners to use their powers to bring the matter to a successful conclusion on terms fair to both parties; and whether he will take such action as may be necessary to preserve the peace of the locality if the measures now threatened by the trustees are carried out.
§ (Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that they have no knowledge of the facts alleged in the Question. No proceedings for the sale of the Shirley estate have been instituted before the Commissioners, but they have received a communication from the tenants and are writing on the subject 653 to Messrs. Fottrell, solicitors, who, it is understood, act for the owner of the estate.