§ MR. SHEEHAN (Cork County, Mid.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he can state what quantity of land in Cork County has been compulsorily acquired by the Estates Commissioners under the Evicted Tenants Act of 1907; what length of time usually elapses from the gazetting of untenanted land which it is proposed to acquire compulsorily and its final acquisition by the Commissioners; and how many evicted tenants have been actually placed back upon land so acquired in Cork County.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that up to the present they have published the necessary notices for the compulsory acquisition, under the Evicted Tenants Act, of some 800 acres of land in the County Cork, but they will not be in a position to acquire any of these lands until the times prescribed for the various steps under the Act and rules have expired, and until any objections which may be lodged by owners and persons interested have been heard and determined. The interval between the gazetting of the notices and the acquisition of the lands will vary according to the extent of the lands proposed to be acquired and the nature of the objections and appeals which may be lodged. Unless objections are completely waived by the owner and other persons interested the various stages under the Act and rules could not be completed in less than six months. Contested cases will necessarily take longer.