CAPTAIN CRAIGI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that Commissioner O'Brien, in 1900, prevented the sale of the sporting rights in connection with the sale of Lough Glynn House to a lay purchaser; whether, as a result of the Commissioner's action, an agitation against this purchase was commenced by the tenants, with the result that the sale of the house was abandoned and the premises were subsequently sold, at a much reduced price to a foreign religious community; and if it is proposed to make any compensation to the vendor for the loss directly entailed by the action of the Commissioner.
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLIn the year 1900, the Congested Districts Board proposed to sell the Dillon estate of about 92,000 acres, reserving the sporting rights. In consequence of this reser- 1102 vation, Mr. Commissioner O'Brien refused to sanction advances in certain cases in which the Board brought in agreements for sale, but this order was subsequently reversed on appeal. The Congested Districts Board, however, agreed in 1901 to sell the estate without any reservations. The Board originally proposed to sell Lough Glynn House and demesne in one lot, and they received an offer of £11,000 which they declined as being insufficient. Subsequently the Board sold for £2,100 the house and 220 acres (of which 120 acres consists of water) to the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese for the purpose of establishing a technical school. A second portion, consisting of agricultural land and bogs which formed part of the demesne, was sold by the Board for £11,300, and they still retain a plantation of 200 acres which affords a revenue for the benefit of the estate generally. The fact, therefore, is that, by declining the original offer for the sale of the house and desmesne as one lot, a considerable advantage has been derived, and it is not the case that there has been any loss to the vendor.