§ MR. P. A. MCHUGHTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that, since 1892. the Congested Districts Board expended £66,626 on piers, slips, and harbour works in the six maritime congested districts counties in Ireland, and that only £735 of that sum was expended in Sligo on such works; whether he is aware that the development of the fishing industry along the seaboard of the county of Sligo had been rendered almost impossible owing to the want of piers, slips, and harbours; can he explain why the fishing industry in this county was so much neglected by the Congested Districts Board; and is he aware that a small pier, which was commenced some time ago at Ballyconnell, on the Magherow coast of county Sligo, remains 1137 in a half-finished condition, and that the work has been stopped.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The amounts stated to have been expended by the Congested Districts Board are correct, except that the Board are now constructing a landing-place at Knock-lane, county Sligo, at a cost of £300, of which sum they are providing £200. They have also issued eighty-two loans to Sligo fishermen amounting in all to £774. The Board have been unremitting in their attention to the wants of the fisheries on the coast of Sligo. The extent of seaboard is very small, and owing to the physical features of the coast, the fisheries must necessarily be of very limited value. At the last census the number of fishermen in county Sligo was only 167. It is not the fact that the Board commenced a pier at Ballyconnell. Their work at that place consisted in removing, at a cost of £141, some stones which were thrown up by the storm.