§ MR. FLAVINTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Thomas Hannan, of Bealkilla, Listowel, a tenant on the Oliver property, has been processed and decreed and also served with a writ for the current gale's rent because he would not sign a purchase agreement at, in his opinion, an exorbitant price; whether he is aware that Mr. Hannan, being a future tenant, is debarred from having a fair rent fixed by the Court, and has asked the agent, Mr. Vandeleur, of Mallow, to allow him to have a fair rent fixed, which request has been refused; and will he say what steps the Government will take to prevent Hannan, and tenants in a similar position who are future tenants, from being harassed by the land agent.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) I have referred this Question to the Estates Commissioners, who inform me that no proceedings for the sale of the estate referred to have been instituted before them, and that they have no knowledge of the facts alleged in the Question. It 758 is, of course, the fact that future tenants are debarred from entering the Land Commission Courts to get a fair rent fixed. I have already stated that the question of admitting future tenants to the benefits of the rent-fixing clauses of the Irish Land Acts will be fully considered in connection with the legislation which it is intended to introduce for the purpose of amending those Acts. I cannot go jurther than this at present.