§ MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, in reference to the Murphy estate, Scrahan, Knocknagree, county Cork, whether any offer has been made to the Estates Commissioners to sell it under the Land Purchase Act of 1903; are they aware that two tenants, P. Guiney and Mrs. O'Connor were evicted in 1880 for the non-payment of one-half year's rent each and the hanging gale, and, as a consequence, a police protection hut was established at Scrahan which has involved an expenditure of £3,000 of public money since its establishment; and whether, in view of these facts and of the public feeling in the locality, the Commissioners will refuse to sanction the sale of the property unless an undertaking is given to reinstate these evicted tenants.
MR. BRYCEThe Estates Commissioners inform me that no originating application or request in respect of the sale of the estate in question has yet been lodged with them. They have, however, received applications for rein statement from both of the evicted tenants named, and have referred these applications to one of their inspectors for inquiry and report. It is the fact that since the year 1881 a protection post has been in existence at Scrahan for the protection of the new tenant of the evicted farms, at an expense from public funds of upwards of £3,000. In regard to the concluding inquiry of the Question, the Commissioners are unable to state what action they may take until proceedings for the sale of the estate have come before them.
† Sec (4) Debates, clvii., 1291.