§ Mr. HAYDENasked what is the amount of loan applied for by the Roscommon Town Commissioners under the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Act, 1908, and the amount sanctioned; whether sanction was given within the last financial year; and, if so, why no portion of the housing grant has been made in respect of the loan for that year, and the absence of any mention of the loan from any of the tables published last week?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Town Commissioners of Roscommon applied for a loan of £7,000 in August, 1909, and a loan of £2,500 was sanctioned in December, 1910. The Commissioners were not entitled to participate in the allocation of the annual income of the Irish Housing Fund for the financial year ended 31st of March last, because the Local Government Board could not certify on the 1st April, 1910, to liabilities which had not yet been created, and in respect of which no payment was made by the Commissioners in the financial year. The tables referred to by the hon. Member included only loans applied for during the year ending 31st March last, and the case of Roscommon did not therefore appear in them.
§ Mr. HAYDENDoes not one of those tables contain loans applied for but not yet sanctioned?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI think that is so. The difficulty in this case seems to have been that though the loan was applied for in August, 1909, it was not sanctioned until December, 1910, and I am told it was not by inadvertence that the case of Roscommon was omitted from the tables, but I confess I am not quite sure about it myself.
§ Mr. HAYDENDo these tables include all the transactions up to the present under the Housing Act?
§ Mr. BIRRELLNo; as I understand it it is not intended that the tables should include transactions except those which have been applied for during the year. These are intended to be included in them up to date.