Mr. CHARLES MacVEIGHasked the Chief Secretary whether he was aware that Patrick Callaghan, of Manoreuningham, East Donegal, made application to the Letterkenny District Council in January, 1907, for a labourer's cottage on Samuel Hood's farm, who was willing to give the land; whether he could state why the sites committee objected to this site, and arranged with the district doctor for a site on his land; why the Local Government Board refused to grant it; why the doctor condemned the house Callaghan 1197 now lives in; and whether he would direct the Local Government Board to take steps to provide Callaghan with a cottage?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI understand that Callaghan applied for a cottage to be built on Hood's farm, and that the latter acquiesced. I have no means of obtaining information as to the proceedings of the local sites committee, but the hon. Member is under a misapprehension in thinking that the Local Government Board refused to grant a cottage for Callaghan. His house was not condemned by the doctor as unfit for habitation, and the council did not, therefore, propose to provide him with a new cottage. At the local inquiry Callaghan and other disappointed applicants appeared before the Board's inspector, and made complaint of their exclusion from the scheme. After hearing evidence, the inspector recommended the district council to make provision for Callaghan and other labourers in a supplementary scheme.