§ MR. MEEHAN (Queen's County, Leix)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the Report of the Arterial Drainage Commission, paragraph 13, page 9, in which it is stated that smaller sums than those hitherto estimated might, us in the case of the River Barrow, be expended with advantage, provided that they were 825 devoted to the purposes of specific works forming part of a general and comprehensive scheme of improvement; whether he is aware that the county councils and the representatives of the counties injured by the flooding from the Barrow have agreed on a scheme, pending legislation and a scheme of thorough drainage, which would considerably reduce the floods and the evils resulting there from; and whether, seeing that Sir Alexander Binnie, Chairman of the Drainage Commission, stated that the works proposed under the scheme were of a beneficial and permanent character, one of the first works that should be done under any general scheme of drainage, he will favourably consider this scheme and provide the money to carry it out.
§ MR. MEEHANTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the Report of the Arterial Drainage Commission, dated 23rd February, 1907, paragraph 13, page 9, referring to the River Barrow, endorsing the observations of the All port Commission that the upper portion of the catchment area of the River Barrow extending down to Athy contains an area of 408,000 acres, of which 46,000 acres are flooded or injured by floods, that the basin of the Upper Barrow suffers more from floods than any other part of Ireland, as shown in the figures given above, the proportion which the lands flooded and injured bear to the whole catchment area is exceptionally high, the length of time during which large tracks are covered with water is often considerable, and there are several low-lying towns within the limits of the river basin which suffer directly and indirectly from inundations; that altogether the condition of the district may be described as deplorable; and seeing that this condition has existed for fifty years and that the flooded area and injured lands now exceed 60,000 acres, what steps he proposes to take to provide a remedy for this evil which has caused loss of life and annual destruction of property.
§ (Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The evidence taken by the Arterial Drainage Commission has not yet been presented to 826 Parliament. It is, I am informed, in course of being printed, and will be ready in a week or two. When the evidence has been received it will be necessary to consider the recommendations of the Commission as a whole in order to decide what legislation may be necessary, and this will obviously take some time. Meanwhile it would not be possible or desirable to consider the question of undertaking drainage schemes in particular cases.