§ MR. JOYCEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the case of Mrs. Scully, a widow with a large family, who was evicted with her husband, who then lived, from a farm at Kilbreedy, county Limerick, in 1895; will he inquire if her late husband made a claim for a farm on the Mount Shannon estate at Annacoty, county Limerick; whether, on 28th January, 1905, he was present when an inspector from the Estates Commissioners attended 1435 for the purpose of marking out the farms on this estate, and drew Lot 1, a farm of about 37 acres; that the farms were drawn by lot on that date, and, her husband having died in October of that year, she got no notice of any further distribution; and whether, under those circumstances, special attention will be given to the claim of this woman.
§ MR BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that Daniel Scully, the evicted tenant referred to in the Question, applied for a holding on the Mount Shannon estate. As the number of evicted tenants who had applied for farms was largely in excess of the possible number of holdings to be allotted, the inspector, at an early stage of the negotiations for purchase, allowed the applicants to draw lots for the sixteen separate holdings into which it was then proposed to divide the estate, in order that the Commissioners might know whether the applicants would take the holdings which might be offered to them if the estate were purchased. The purchase was not completed until two years later, and the estate was then divided into twelve lots only. Scully had died in the meantime. The Commissioners fully considered Mrs. Scully's claim, but did not select her as being one of the most suitable of the applicants for the holdings.
§ MR. BIRRELLIt is rather difficult to see what special attention can be given to this woman. The Commissioners came to the conclusion she was not the most suitable applicant for this farm.