§ Mr. SHEEHANasked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the statement of the resident magistrate presiding at Blarney Petty Sessions recently to the effect that tenants of labourers' cottages, holding under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, had no security in their tenancies and could be dispossessed at the will of the district council whether their rents were paid or not; and whether, seeing that this statement has created a feeling of dismay amongst tenants who believed they could not be disturbed in their tenancies whilst they paid their rents, he proposes to take legislative action to secure fixity of tenure to all occupiers of labourers' cottages?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe agreements signed by the tenants of labourers' cottages expressly provide that their tenancies can be determined at any time if the district council should see fit to do so. There is no necessity for an alteration of the law in this respect. The present system has worked quite smoothly, and it is most unlikely that the local bodies will act harshly so long as the tenants pay their rents and observe their agreements.