§ 63. Mr. FIELDasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that the results of an inspection by the town surveyor of Tipperary, Mr. W. J. Heffenan, show that the forty-four cottages erected by Lord Barrymore in the Tipperary urban district, and in respect of which he received loans in 1878-1880 at the rate of £148 per house under the Land Improvement Acts, have an average capacity of only 2,911 cubic feet per house, while seventeen superior two-storey houses erected by the urban council in 1900 at a cost of exactly £148 per house have a capacity of 4,880 cubic feet per house; and whether he will state on what grounds the advance of £148 per house by way of loan to Mr. Smith Barry, now Lord Barrymore, is sustained?
§ Mr. DUKEThe Commissioners of Public Works have no means of making a comparison of the value of Lord Barrymore's cottages and those built by the district council. Such a comparison could have no practical value, as the loans were made more than thirty years ago, and have been almost entirely repaid. I am informed that the cottages built under Land Improvement loans were erected on approved plans and specifications, and the average cost was not excessive.