§ MR. GILHOOLY (Cork County, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Guernon estate, on the Durrus Peninsula, was offered for sale last February to the Congested Districts Board, and that the Board at their last meeting, owing to the want of funds, decided not to make an offer for the purchase of this estate; whether the Treasury will be able, before the Board's next meeting, to put them in a position to do so, and, if not, how long the delay will be allowed by the Treasury to continue; whether he is aware that in November, 1904, the Congested Districts Board purchased the estate of the representatives of D. O'Donovan in the Durrus Peninsula; and why this estate is not yet vested in the Congested Districts Board.
§ MR. CHERRYIt is the fact that the Congested Districts Board have declined to negotiate for the purchase of the Guernon estate owing to the want of funds. The question of increasing the Board's funds for the purchase of estates cannot be dealt with apart from the legislation which it is proposed to introduce in the autumn as the result of the Report of the Royal Commission on Congestion. The delay in the case of the O'Donovan estate is not due to any question of funds, but to a difficulty in regard to the vendor's title. It is expected that this difficulty will shortly be settled.