MR. P. A. MCHUGHTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the purchase of the Hillas estate, Templeboy, county Sligo, has been completed; whether he is aware that a tenant on this estate named Patrick Foley, of Dunowla, Templeboy, is being threatened with eviction for non-payment of £11 10s., one and a-half year's rent, by the agent on this estate, Mr. Richard Robinson, of Sligo, unless he agrees to purchase at a price fixed by the agent; that this tenant was evicted in 1895, and his house thrown down, and afterwards admitted as a future tenant on payment of £67 2s. 1d. by himself and a brother in America; and whether he will ask the Estates Commissioners to investigate the case of this tenant, with a view to prevent undue pressure being put upon him by the agent?
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that the originating application for the sale of this estate was lodged on the 11th April last, and will be dealt with in its order of priority. The Commissioners have no knowledge of the circumstances mentioned in the Question, but, before sanctioning the advances applied for, the Commissioners will duly inquire into the circumstances under which no purchase agreement has been lodged in the case of Patrick Foley, a tenant on the estate.