§ MR. GINNELL (Westmeath, N.)I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland if, in view of the fact that future tenants are tenants-at-will, liable to eviction without cause by twelve months notice, and are excluded from the Land Courts except with the consent of the landlord, and that they are the only considerable class of tenants now so excluded, and that many of them have been in occupation without physical interruption for more than a quarter of a century, and that the legislature has never expressly enacted the creation of a permanent class of this kind without security or redress, His Majesty's Government will find some remedy for the position of future tenants.
§ THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. CHERRY,) Liverpool, ExchangeThe hon. Member has not quite correctly stated the legal position of future tenants under the Irish Land Acts. They cannot be truly described as mere tenants-at-will, inasmuch as, though their tenancies may be determined by notice to quit, they are, if evicted without cause, entitled to compensation for both disturbance and improvements. As a matter of fact, I believe that very few of them have been dispossessed except for non-payment of rent, and many of them have purchased their holdings under the Land Purchase Acts. Whether it would be possible for desirable to extend their rights by legislation is a matter which I could not very well discuss within the limits of an Answer.
§ MR. FLAVIN (Kerry, N.)Will the Government introduce some legislation on the matter?
§ MR. CHERRYI have answered that part of the Question.