§ 54. Lieut.-Colonel MOOREasked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs why the negotiations for the transfer to 1894 the Government of the Irish Free State of the responsibility for the maintenance of lighthouses, buoys, etc., in the Irish Free State have still not been completed after 11 years; and what are the difficulties in the way of a definite decision?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERIn the unavoidable absence of my right hon. Friend, I have been asked to answer this question and the following one. Difficulties both of a technical and of a political character have been encountered in the course of the negotiations referred to in my hon. and gallant Friend's question, and so far no satisfactory means of meeting them has been found.
§ Lieut.-Colonel MOOREMay I ask my right hon. Friend if the cost of maintaining those lighthouses, buoys, etc., has been set off against the debt owed by the Irish Free State to the British Government?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERI should certainly like to see that question put upon the Paper.