§ MR. FETHERSTONHAUGH (Fermanagh, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, if his attention has been directed to the statement on page 10 of the Report of the Irish Land Commission (31st March, 1905, to 31st March, 1906), that the surplus income of the Irish Temporalities Fund has, by arrangement with the National Debt Commissioners, been utilised in the payment of debt; will he say what debt the surplus has been utilised to pay; under what authority has the surplus of this Irish fund been so applied; and in what way is Ireland benefited by this application.
§ (Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The surplus income of the Irish Church Temporalities Fund is applied from time to time, 579 as it accrues, in paying off capital charges on that fund. These liabilities, which are secured by bonds guaranteed by the Treasury, are in respect of loans raised for the purposes of the Irish Church Act, 1869, and for other purposes imposed on the fund by various statutory enactments, and repayment of the bonds is accepted by the National Debt Commissioners as the money in the Irish Church Temporalities Fund permits.