§ Mr. O'DOWDasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that owing to the periodical floodings of the Owenmore river, in the county of Sligo, quantities of hay and other crops are annually destroyed, to the ruin of hundreds of small farmers residing in the vicinity of that river, and that the county council and other public bodies in Sligo have, by resolution and otherwise, repeatedly urged this matter on the attention of the Government for a number of years; and whether, fleeing that the areas affected by these 394W floodings are now prepared to contribute a tax towards the work of draining this river the newly-constituted Congested Districts Board will give a grant-in-aid to enable a drainage scheme to be carried through?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYI am aware that much damage is caused by the flooding of the Owenmore River and that the attention of the Irish Government has often been called to the matter. I understand that in a similar case, that of the River Robe, County Mayo, the Congested Districts Board have offered either to contribute towards the cost of the work, or to have it executed, if the landowners, whose lands are affected by the proposed drainage, form a legally constituted Drainage Board, which will repay to the Board the whole or a substantial portion of the expenditure, as may be agreed upon, and which will undertake the proper maintenance of the work after it is completed. It is probable that the Congested Districts Board would deal in a similar manner with this case if a Drainage Board were formed.