§ Mr. PATRICK WHITEasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the Estates Commissioners have received an application to be allowed to purchase their houses and plots of land from about forty tenants who at present are all in occupation of uneconomic holdings on the Wade estate, situate at Clonabraney, county Meath; whether they have also received a request that the untenanted land on the estate be acquired for the enlargement of their small holdings; and what action has been taken, or will be taken, before the advance for the purchase of the estate is sanctioned?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThis estate is the subject of direct sale proceedings under the Land Purchase Acts. The Estates Commissioners have recently received the communication referred to, and it will be considered when the estate is being dealt with in order of priority.
§ Mr. BOLANDasked whether, in view of the fact that the Sugrue estate, Prior, near Caherciveen, has not yet been purchased, steps will be taken to secure the reinstatement of Timothy Sullivan, an evicted tenant?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have received an application from Timothy Sullivan for reinstatement in a 1529W holding formerly occupied by him on the Sugrue estate, county Kerry, and now in the possession of another tenant, and have noted Sullivan's application for consideration in the allotment of untenanted land acquired by them.
§ Mr. LUNDONasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether there is any Clause in the Bill of 1909 whereby the Land Commission are empowered to grant money to tenant farmers repayable in a certain number of years for the purposes of building, etc.?
§ Mr. BIRRELLSection 30 of the Irish Land Act, 1909, enables the Estates Commissioners, where they deem it expedient to expend money on the improvement of a holding on an estate the subject of direct sale proceedings before them under the Land Purchase Acts, to make the sum so expended repayable as part of the purchase annuity payable by the purchasing tenant. In ordinary cases where loans are required for buildings on holdings, application should be made to the Commissioners of Public Works, who have power to make such loans under the Land Improvement (Ireland) Acts repayable by annuities.
§ Mr. LUNDONasked if the estate of Colonel Hare, at Doon, county Limerick, will be dealt with by the Estates Commissioners this year, and what is the cause of the delay?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThis estate is being sold direct to the tenants by the owner under the Irish Land Act, 1903, and has not yet been reached in order of priority to be dealt with by the Estates Commissioners. Having regard to its position on the principal register of direct sales, and the prior claims of other estates, the Commissioners are not at present in a position to say when the turn of this estate will be reached, but when reached it will be dealt with as rapidly as practicable.
§ Mr. LUNDONasked if the estate of the governors of Erasmus Smith's schools, in county Limerick, will be dealt with this year; and, if not, how soon it will be dealt with?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThis estate is being sold direct to the tenants by the owner under the Irish Land Act, 1903, and has not yet been reached in order of priority to be dealt with by the Estates Commissioners.1530W Having regard to its position on the principal register of direct sales, and the prior claims of other estates, the Commissioners are not at present in a position to say when this estate will be dealt with.
§ Mr. LUNDONasked whether the Ponsonby estate at Clounanna, Gahichswell, has yet been dealt with by the Estates Commissioners, and if a bog on this estate, which has always been the property of a tenant named Lillis, has now been taken possession of by the late agent of the property, Mr. Peter Fitzgerald; and, if so, will the Estates Commissioners cause an inspection to be made and see that the rights of the man are not taken away, and that the part of bog which he has always enjoyed will still be left him?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThis estate is being sold direct to the tenants by the owner under the Irish Land Act, 1903, and has not yet been reached in order of priority to be dealt with. From the documents lodged the Estates Commissioners cannot find that there is any tenant named Lillis on the lands of Clounanna, but the matter referred to in the question will be inquired into when the estate is being dealt with.
§ Mr. JOHN ROCHEasked when the property of Major O'Kelly, Mucklow, county Galway, will be dealt with by the Estates Commissioners?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe hon. Member presumably refers to the estate of Major A. D. D. Kelly, county Galway, for the sale of which to the Estates Commissioners formal proceedings have been instituted. The Commissioners are not at present in a position to say when they will be able to deal with this estate.
§ Mr. SHEEHANasked when the Sugrue estate, Johnstown, county Cork, will be vested in the tenants; when were the purchase agreements signed by the tenants; and has the final inspection of the different holdings yet been made?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThis estate is being sold direct by the owner to the tenants under the Land Purchase Acts, and has not yet been reached in order of priority to be dealt with. The Estates Commissioners are not at present in a position to say when it will be so reached. The majority of the purchase agreements were lodged with the Commissioners in October, 1908.