Captain CRAIGasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he can state under what statute a man named James Mullooly, of Corskagh, near Strokestown, county Eoscommon, was granted an allotment, had a house built on it for him, and was supplied with money to purchase stock by the Estates Commissioners, on the townland of Doonard, purchased from the trustees of Plunkett Taafe; whether he is aware that James Mullooly in 1885 owed about £40 to Messrs. McHugh and Company, of Strokestown, for shop goods supplied, and was decreed for the amount due, and there being nothing moveable to seize upon the decree was converted into a judgment, and under this judgment Mullooly's interest in his farm was put up for sale to satisfy the debt, and was bought in by Messrs. McHugh and Company; whether it is the custom of the Estates Commissioners to grant allotments to persons who have been evicted at the suit of creditors other than landlords; and, if so, can he state how many have been so granted allotments during 1906, 1907. and 1908?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that James Mullooly was provided with a holding on the Taaffe estate by them under section 2 (1) (d) of the Act of 1903, which does not lay down any restrictions as to the causes or circumstances under which a person became dispossessed of a holding. It is not the practice of the Commissioners to allot holdings to persons evicted by creditors other than landlords for debt, but they have done so in cases in which in the exercise of their discretion they thought it proper to do so. They cannot give the number of such cases. The estate on which Mullooly was provided with a holding was not acquired under the Evicted Tenants Act, 1907, but under section 6 of the Irish Land Act, 1903.