§ MR. HAYDEN (Roscommon, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, with reference to the site selected by the Urban District Council of Athlone for the erection upon it of workmen's dwellings, whether Mr. Cowan, Chief Engineering Inspector of the Local Government Board, has approved of the selection; and, if so, whether the Board will sanction the scheme and allow the work proposed by the district council to be carried out without further delay.
MR. BRYCEThe Local Government Board are prepared to sanction a loan for the erection of workmen's houses when a suitable site is secured by the Urban District Council. In 1903 the Council obtained, under a Provisional Order confirmed by Parliament, compulsory powers for the acquisition of a site, but they are apparently unwilling to exercise these powers and have since been endeavouring to obtain another suitable site. Of the alternative sites put forward by the Council, one only has been favourably reported on by the Board's Inspectors. The question of the purchase money for this site has not, however, been settled, and a loan for its acquisition and for the erection of houses on it could not be sanctioned until a Local Inquiry has been held The Board have so informed the Council, and are now awaiting an application from them to have the Inquiry held.
§ MR. HAYDENIs this the site that Mr. Cowan approves in the correspondence between the Urban Council and the Local Government Board?