§ MR. O'SHAUGHNESSYTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he can say whether the Estates Commissioners have received a resolution from the Ardagh branch of the United Irish League, calling on them not to sanction a sale of the Massey estate situate at Glenville and Ballylin, Ardagh, County of Limerick, unless the untenanted lands on the estate, comprising 600 acres, are purchased by them and utilised for the purpose of enlarging the numerous small and uneconomic holdings on the estate, and for making provision for the evicted tenants and the labourers in the locality; and will he say what action is being taken in the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Estates Commissioners have received a copy of the resolution in question. The Commissioners have in pursuance of the Lord Lieutenant's regulations addressed inquiries to the representatives of the owners in this case with the object of negotiating for the purchase of about 640 acres of untenanted land situate in the townlands named, but have not yet received any reply to their inquiries.