§ DR. AMBROSE (Mayo, W.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, if he could give any reason why the negotiations for the sale of the Phibbs and M'Alpin Robertson estates, situate at Windsor, near Castle-bar, county Mayo, which were begun in 1905, have fallen through; and if there is any immediate prospect of the untenanted land on said estates being utilised for the relief of the congestion that at present exists amongst the said tenants.
(Answered by Mr. Cherry.) I am informed that in 1906 the Congested Districts Board had some correspondence with the owners of the estates in question, but the estates were not definitely offered for sale to the Board and the negotiations fell through. The Board have recently learnt that the owners of both properties are now prepared to offer them for sale to the Board, and particulars are awaited. The Board, however, are not in a position to say that there is an immediate prospect of their acquiring these estates, as, owing to the lack of funds for improvement purposes, they have had to postpone negotiations for purchase in such cases for the present.