§ 32. Mr. LARDNERasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that, on 23rd December, 1906, John Marron lodged with the clerk of the Cootehill (No. 2) Rural District Council a representation in Form 1, under the Labourers Act, applying to have a cottage erected on the farm of James Carey, in the townland of Aughnamullen, Anny electoral district, county Monaghan; that this representation was duly considered and accepted on behalf of Marron at a meeting of the rural district council, held on 15th February, 1907; that at the Local Government inquiry under the Labourers Act, held in December, 1907, Marron appeared and gave evidence in support of his representation before the inspector, who approved of Marron as a suitable person for a labourer's cottage and passed his claim and the site for the cottage; that the cottage was not completed till the year 1912, and the letting thereof was considered at a meeting of the rural district council held on 2nd August, 1912, when Marron attended with the intention of getting possession from the council, but instead the council decided to give the cottage to a man named Joseph Kennedy; whether he will state while Joseph Marron, who is a bonâ-fide labourer with a wife and family, who first applied for the cottage and waited five years for it, was passed over for Kennedy, who was not resident in the district and is not a labourer insured as an employed person, but a speculator yearly in conacre lettings and grazing takes, and who never applied for the cottage; will he state whether the council acted within their rights in passing over Marron for Kennedy; whether the Local Government Board have any power to deal with the case; and, if so, what action they have taken or intend to take?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe facts of the case are even more complicated than would appear from the question, as there was a third applicant who considered that he had some claim to the cottage. The Local Government Board, after carefully considering Marron's complaints, have come to the conclusion that the case is not one calling for their interference. The question whether the council were acting within their legal rights is one which could only be determined by a Court of Law.