§ Mr. BOLANDasked whether the attention of the Estates Commissioners has been drawn to the application of Mrs. Daniel O'Leary, Shelburne Street, Kenmare, for compensation arising out of her eviction from her farm at Shandrum, Kilgarvan; has the Lowe estate been finally sold; and, if so, what steps, if any, have been taken to safeguard Mrs. O'Leary's claim?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have received an application from Mrs. Mary O'Leary for reinstatement in a holding at Shandrum on the Lowe Estate, formerly jointly occupied by her late husband and his brother, and now in the possession of her nephew, and have decided to take no action in the matter. Proceedings for the sale of the Lowe Estate, County Kerry, direct from the landlord to the tenants are pending before the Commissioners. An agreement signed by Daniel and Mary O'Leary for the purchase of a holding comprising 199 acres of the lands of Shandrum has been lodged with the Commissioners. The estate has not yet been reached in its order of priority.
§ Mr. AUGUSTINE ROCHEasked why the Estates Commissioners have not sent down an inspector to bring about an arrangement whereby Denis Murphy, the son of an evicted tenant, may be reinstated in his late father's farm, now in the possession of one Kingston, in Carriclogh, barony of West Muskerry, county Cork; and whether the Commissioners have received a memorial from the local Unionists asking that Kingston be sustained against the claim of the son of a bonâ fide evicted tenant?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that the papers in this case are with an inspector in the country, and the matter will be considered when they are returned.
§ Mr. O'DONNELLasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that William Neill, of Bansha, Killorglin, held the lands of Ballyseedy, Tralee, county Kerry, from which he was evicted by process of law; that he held those lands as agricultural tenant down to 1885; whether, seeing that 181W he is in every way entitled to reinstatement under the terms of the Evicted Tenants' Act, 1907, steps will be immediately taken to have him reinstated in those lands?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have ascertained that Neill did not hold the lands as tenant, and they decided to take no further action in the matter.
§ Mr. KILBRIDEasked the Chief Secretary whether applications for reinstatement have been made by John Dunne, who was evicted twenty-one years ago from his holding at Tipperan, Kilcullen, county Kildare; is he aware that John Dunne has grown-up sons well qualified to work a farm; can he say whether the Estates Commissioners have acquired or are about to acquire untenanted land in Kildare; and when may John Dunne hope to receive benefit from the Land Purchase Act of 1903?
§ Mr. BIRRELLJohn Dunne's application for reinstatement in a holding formerly occupied by him on the estate of Sir Kildare Burrowes, county Kildare, was not received within the period limited by the Evicted Tenants Act, 1907, and it cannot be dealt with under the provisions of that Act, but it will be considered when the lands come before the Estates Commissioners under the Land Purchase Acts.
§ Sir THOMAS ESMONDEasked the Chief Secretary what steps had been taken by the Estates Commissioners in the case of Mr. Bernard O'Rafferty, of Coolegreany, county Wexford, whose father was evicted from his farm on the Brooke estate, and when he will be provided with a holding?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have inquired into and considered Bernard O'Rafferty's application for reinstatement in a holding formerly occupied by his father on the Brooke estate, county Wexford, and now in the possession of tenant purchasers, and have decided not to take any action in the matter.
§ Mr. J. P. FARRELLasked the Chief Secretary if he will state the number of evicted tenants whose applications for reinstatement, under the Evicted Tenants (Ireland) Act, were received, and in which cases no action was taken; whether it is intended to take no further action whatever in such cases; or whether, in the event of untenanted land becoming available, the Estates Commissioners will take some steps to reinstate some of these people?
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§ Mr. BIRRELLTable XXVII. of the Appendix to the Estates Commissioners' Report for the year to the 31st March, 1910, shows that up to that date 12,011 applications for reinstatement were received from evicted tenants or their representatives. Of these 1,561 were outside the provisions of the Irish Land Act, 1903, and the Evicted Tenants Act, 1907, 4,580 were refused by the Estates Commissioners, 2,581 were reinstated in their former holdings or provided with other holdings, 999 applications have been noted for consideration in the allotment of untenanted land acquired by the Commissioners or when the estates to which they relate are being dealt with by the Commissioners. The remaining 2,290 applications were received after the date mentioned in the Evicted Tenants Act, 1907, and cannot, therefore, be dealt with under the Act. They will be considered when the estates to which they relate are the subject of proceedings for sale under the Land Purchase Acts.
§ Mr. J. P. FARRELLasked the Chief Secretary whether, in the case of Peter Farrell, now living in the United States, who in 1885 was evicted from his farm at Kilnaconon, county Longford, and for whom the Estates Commissioners promised, through their inspector, Mr. George Campbell, to provide an equivalent holding elsewhere, any action has since been taken to redeem that promise; and, if not, will it be now pushed forward so that this old man, who is anxious before he dies to be restored to a home on his native soil, will not be disappointed in the end?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners received an application from Peter Farrell for reinstatement in a holding formerly occupied by him on the King Harman estate, county Longford, and his name was provisionally noted. The holding has been purchased by the present occupier under the Land Purchase Acts, and the Commissioners, on further inquiry, have decided to take no action in the matter.
§ Mr. WILLIAM O'BRIENasked the Chief Secretary whether he was aware that James Malony, an evicted tenant on the Vandeleur estate, who had been sub-tenant to Theodore Bradley, who has now become a tenant-purchaser, was promised reinstatement by Bradley as soon as the Vandeleur estate should be sold, and that a written agreement for that purpose was submitted to Bradley by the landlord's 183W solicitor on the occasion of the sale, and was repudiated by him; and what steps the Estates Commissioners will take to enforce Bradley's promise and restore the evicted tenant to his holding?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have received an application from James Malony for reinstatement in a holding of three acres on the Vandeleur estate formerly occupied by him as sub-tenant to Theodore Bradley. Bradley has signed an agreement for the purchase of his holding from the owner under the Irish Land Act, 1903, and the Commissioners, after inquiry and consideration, have decided to take no action in the matter of Malony's application.