§ Mr. WILLIAM ABRAHAMasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he would give the date of the application of Thomas Robinson to the Estates Commissioners for reinstatement in the farm on the Bruen estate, county Wexford, from which his mother was evicted in 1879; whether the special circumstance which led or induced the Commissioners to sanction an advance of public money to the extent of £2,350 to Thomas Robinson, who possessed over £3,000, consisted in the fact of his having been a land steward in the employment of Lady Kingston; and whether it was to be regarded as part of the policy of the Estates Commissioners, when they acquired untenanted lands, to provide for employés of the landlords by the use of public money which Parliament intended for other purposes?
§ The CHIEF SECRETARY for IRELAND (Mr. Birrell)The date of Thomas Robinson's application for reinstatement was 31st October, 1908. I have already stated that Robinson was one of nine persons who were allotted farms upon untenanted land purchased by the Estates Commissioners from the Countess of Kingston. Robinson, who was manager of the lands on the Kingston estate, in which the farm allotted to him is situate, 1256 was being partially deprived of his employment because of the sale of the estate under the Land Acts, and the Estates Commissioners, therefore, regarded him as having a special claim for consideration. He was fully qualified to receive an advance by reason of the fact that he was the representative of an evicted tenant. It is the practice of the Estates Commissioners to give special consideration to the claims of persons who lose their employment upon the sale of an estate, assuming that they are qualified to receive advances.