HC Deb 19 November 1906 vol 165 cc410-1
MR. JAMES O'KELLY (Roscommon, N.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he can say in what position the arrangements for the sale of the De Freyne estate to the tenants now stands; whether information on the subject has been refused by the Congested Districts Board to tenants who have written for the same; whether some of the tenants on the estate are now under notice to pay one year's rent who have already paid two year's rent within a period of eleven months; and whether he can hold out any hope that the doubt and uncertainty connected with the proceedings will soon be brought to an end.

THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. BRYCE, Aberdeen)

The Congested Districts Board arranged with Lord De Freyne for the purchase of his estate on 1st April, 1905. At that time a number of the tenants had paid Lord De Freyne no rent during the previous year, and one of the conditions of the sale was that the Board should pay Lord De Freyne in cash one year's rent in respect of the arrears due by these tenants. The Poard accordingly paid the money, and on 19th May, 1905, demanded a year's rent from those tenants who had paid nothing during the previous year. No demand for rent was then made on any of the other tenants. In November, 1905, a demand for one year's rent was issued to all the tenants on the estate including those who had not paid the previous year's rent until after May, 1905. In the present month demands for another year's rent have been made on all the tenants. The result, therefore, is that the tenants have been asked to pay only one year's rent in each year since the Board obtained the estate, with the exception of those tenants who, having failed to pay Lord De Freyne any rent during the last year that he held the property, were required to pay a year's rent to the Board, who had already paid it to Lord De Freyne. It is hoped that before the time of the next annnal rent collection most of the holdings on the estate will have been sold to the tenants, and in such cases the tenants will only be required to pay interest on the purchase price from 1st November, 1906, to the date of signing the purchase agreements.