§ 33. Mr. GINNELLasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) what steps the Department has taken in connection with the problem of the supply of fuel to have due consideration given to the peat resources of Ireland equally with the coal resources of Britain for both State and private purposes; whether the Department has supplied the Board of Trade with particulars of the extent of the Irish peat deposits, where situated, and the prices at which any of the tracts of bog can be obtained; and whether he will state those particulars in order to make them available for private enterprise?
§ Mr. T. W. RUSSELL (Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture, Ireland)With regard to the first part of the hon. Member's question, I would refer him to the answer which the Chief Secretary gave him on the 9th instant, and to my reply to the hon. Member for St. Patrick's Division of Dublin on the 15th instant. Particulars of the areas of turf bog and marsh in the several Poor Law unions in Ireland are contained in the Agricultural Statistics for 1913, published by the Department, but the Department have no information as to the price at which any of the areas in question could at present be purchased.
§ Mr. GINNELLCannot the Department take any action at all in this important matter?
§ Mr. RUSSELLI am not very sure that the action suggested by the hon. Member would be for the benefit of the Irish people.