§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary when land purchase losses have so matured as to be deducted from the annual grants to local bodies in relief of the rates, whether those bodies will in future be furnished with details of the losses for which they are thus made liable; whether those bodies are furnished with particulars of any adjustment consequent on the subsequent recovery of the losses by the Land Commission; will he state the reason for permanent concealment in dealing with this particular public money; why those bodies are not informed of the amounts to be deducted before preparing their annual estimates; and what is the amount deducted from the grants due to each local body and the whole of Ireland this year in respect of land purchase losses?
§ Mr. BIRRELLIt is a mistake to speak of land purchase losses in this connection. When Land Purchase Annuities are in arrear beyond the prescribed date the amount of the arrear is temporarily deducted from the local taxation grants payable to the county concerned, and when the arrears are subsequently recovered the county is credited therewith. The deduction in each year consists of the amount chargeable against the county in respect of the arrears for that year less the amount of the previous year's arrears which have been recovered during the year. As I have frequently stated, it would be impracticable and would serve no useful purpose to furnish a list of defaulters at any given date. Arrears are paid by defaulters from day to day, and by the time a list for any given date could be prepared many would have already paid, and the list would be out of date. The adjustments required by the certificates of the Land Commission and the National Debt Commissioners in respect of land purchase liability in the several counties are made in the office of the Local Government Board and are published from time to time in the Board's Annual Reports, copies of which are sent to the secretaries of county councils and to the clerks of certain other local bodies. There is consequently no concealment on the part of the Board. The county councils were informed by the Board of the sums to be deducted in respect of this liability at the earliest possible date.
The following statement shows the net deductions from and net additions to the share of each county in the second instalment of the Estate or Death Duty Grant 1722W for the year 1910–11 in respect of sums withdrawn from the Guarantee Fund established in connection with land purchase and the repayments to the fund on account of previous deductions as obtained from certificates made in pursuance of regulations under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, and the Irish Land Act, 1903, and the totals of such net deductions and net additions:—
Counties. Deducted on account of sums withdrawn from Guarantee Fund. Added on account of sums repaid to Guarantee Fund. £ s. d. £ s. d. Antrim … 8 10 3 Armagh. 519 15 2 … Carlow. 188 17 7 … Cavan 24 18 7 … Clare … 86 7 8 Cork 490 7 10 … Donegal 121 9 7 … Down 79 16 8 … Dublin 136 12 1 … Fermanagh … 89 12 3 Halway 711 5 0 … Kerry 1,156 10 2 … Kildare 1,321 2 9 … Kilkenny 208 7 9 … King's County … 195 10 10 Leitritn 66 5 1 … Limerick 835 19 2 … Londonderry 181 0 10 … Longford 166 12 5 … Louth 180 19 1 … Mayo 256 2 5 … Meath 1,001 10 8 … Monaghan 233 16 10 … Queen's County 139 4 9 … Roscommon … 29 2 11 Sligo 710 9 8 … Tipperary, North Riding. 390 0 0 … Tipperary, South Riding. 1,034 8 0 … Tyrone … 145 8 1 Waterford 729 9 3 … Westmeath … 4 17 6 Wexford … 235 7 3 Wicklow 669 8 6 … £ 11,553 9 10 794 16 9 Net Deductions £ 10,758 13 1