§ MR. MOORE (Armagh, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that the Estates Commissioners intend to compulsorily acquire from Mrs. Charlotte Elizabeth Hynes, in the County of Cavan, for the purposes of the Evicted Tenants Act, the lands of Deanfield and Rynn, amounting to 200 acres; if these are the only lands this lady has in her own 1946 occupation; if he is aware that she has never evicted a tenant; if the Estates Commissioners have already refused to sanction her sale to her tenants of tenanted land because she would not sell these lands to them at their own price; if it is the policy of the Government under the Act that one proprietor is to be dispossessed of his entire property to create three or four others; and if he will inquire into this case.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that they have gazetted notice of their intention to acquire, for the purposes of the Evicted Tenants Act, the lands referred to in the Question. The objections of the owner to the acquisition of the lands will be duly considered and judicially determined; and therefore, seeing that the matter is sub judice, it is not considered desirable to enter into details of the matters alleged in the Question.