§ MR. WILLIAM ABRAHAM (Cork County, N.E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state whether the agreement entered into between John Therry, agent of the Grehan estate, Kildorrery, County Cork, and his son John. 361 Therry, of Mooresfort, County Tipperary, whereby the latter was given a judicial tenancy in the holdings of the evicted tenants on the estate, was made after the passage of the Land Purchase Act. 1903, to prevent these tenants from being reinstated in their old holdings; and whether the Estates Commissioners will have a full inquiry made into all the circumstances of this case with the view of bringing about the restoration of these evicted tenants to their old homes.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that the judicial agreement referred to was entered into on 4th November, 1903. This was subsequent to the passing of the Irish Land Act of that year, but it was long before the passing of the Evicted Tenants Act of 1907, which alone has any bearing upon the compulsory acquisition of lands for the reinstatement of evicted tenants. The Commissioners are of opinion that nothing would be gained by making further inquiries into the cases of the evicted tenants. They will, as I have already informed the hon. Member, consider the evicted tenants' applications in connection with the distribution of any untenanted land which they may acquire in the locality.