§ MR. SHEEHAN (Cork County, Mid)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether a report has yet been received as to the grounds on which the application of William Sheehan, Ballymakeera, in the Macroom rural district, for a labourer's cottage was repealed by the County Court Judge after having; been passed by the Local Government Board inspector; whether he is aware that the present system of appeal is causing dissatisfaction amongst the labourers; whether complaints to this effect have been already brought under his notice; and will he state what steps he intends to take in the matter.
I beg also to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state the grounds on which John Cottar had his application for a cottage in the Macroom rural district rejected on appeal by the County Court Judge; whether he is aware that the petitioner, Mary Scriven, in addition to holding thirty acres of land, was also proved to be a postmistress and owner of a number of houses, and therefore would not suffer excessively by an allotment being taken out of her farm, and that the applicant proved that the house in which he lived was built against a sand-bank, was unfit for habitation, and was the abode of snails; and, seeing that the County Court Judge suggested that Cottar might be given a half-acre plot, will he explain why his claim was rejected, and why he and an aged father and mother were condemned to remain in their present miserable dwelling-place; and can anything be now done to provide him with a cottage and plot of land.
I beg further to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state the grounds on which the County Court Judge refused the application of Patrick Twohig for a cottage and plot of land on the holding of John Delece, at Carrigleigh, in the Macroom rural district; whether his attention has been called to the evidence upon which the claim of this man to a better dwelling was sustained before the inspector of the Local Government Board 414 and the County Court Judge; whether he is aware that it was proved by the engineer of the district council that the petitioner had a sufficiency of arable land out of which to grant an allotment for a labourer; and what steps, if any, will be taken to provide Twohig with a suitable dwelling.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board have no information as to the proceedings in the County Court on the hearing of the appeals in these three cases, nor have they any authority to inquire as to the grounds of the decisions of the County Court Judge. His decision on an appeal under the Labourers Acts is final, and a labourer whose application is disallowed can only apply once more to the district council with a view to being provided with a cottage under a new scheme.