§ MR. DELANYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the statement made at the last. 735 meeting of the Agricultural Council, to the effect that, out of £19,000 paid by the Department since 1900, to the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, £17,000 of that sum was handed away without the knowledge or approval of the Agricultural Board; whether he is aware that this statement was made by an elected member of the Agricultural Board with the concurrence of four other elected colleagues; and can he say upon what authority and for what purpose the Department disbursed this money without submitting the payments to the supervision of the Agricultural Board.
MR. BRYCEI am informed that a statement to the effect mentioned was made by an elected member of the Agricultural Board, who said that he had consulted four of his elected colleagues on the subject. The inference that the payments wore made without the concurrence of the Agricultural Board is, I am informed, incorrect. The expenditure in question, which was in respect of work one for the Department by officers of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, was undertaken with the concurrence of the Agricultural Board in the circumstances detailed in my reply to the question of the hon. Member for East Mayo on May 21st.†
§ MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this Irish Agricultural Organisation Society is a trade society competing with private traders?