§ Mr. SWIFT MacNEILLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the fact stated in the First Report of the Road Board that, out of a total distribution up to 30th March, 1911, of £273,825, only £7,432 has been allocated to Ireland; and whether, having regard to the distinct undertaking by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that 671W the funds were not to be distributed in proportion to the receipts and that the object of the legislation establishing the Road Board was the improvement of transport for the poorer and more thinly populated parts of the country, he will take any and, if so, what steps to secure a more equitable distribution of the funds, having regard to the exceptional circumstances of particular districts in Ireland?
Mr. McKINNON WOODThe total amount of the grants made by the Road Board up to 30th June, 1911, is stated in Appendix 4 to their First Annual Report at £263,324, of which £7,432 was granted to county councils in Ireland, but this, as is also stated in the Report, is part of a total sum of £150,000 provisionally allocated for distribution in Irish Grants up to 31st March, 1912. This allocation has not been made on the basis of Irish contributions to the Road Improvement Fund, but approximately in the ratio of population. I am not aware that any undertaking was given by my right hon. Friend that in the administration of the Road Improvement Fund preference should be given to the poorer and more thinly populated parts of the country.