§ Mr. SHEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland the amounts, if any, of the additional £1,000,000 provided under the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1911, which have been allocated to the several counties in Munster; how much has been actually 233W distributed by way of loan out of this £1,000,000, and in what counties; whether the Cork Rural District Council have had no Local Government Board inquiry into any improvement scheme for the past four years, although there are 1,600 applicants for labourers' cottages whose present dwellings have been condemned by the medical officers of health as unfit for human habitation; is he aware that during the past ten years Cork county has lost 13,000 of its population owing to emigration, and that a considerable percentage of the exodus of the workers is due to bad and insufficient housing accommodation; when will the Local Government Board accede to the request of the Cork District Council to hold a local inquiry; what is the reason of the delay; and whether it is within the power of the Local Government Board to hang up at their discretion moneys which have been voted by Parliament for the housing of rural workers in Ireland?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe total amount actually sanctioned out of the additional million is £209,327, of which £33,295 has been in respect of rural districts in Munster, £5,815 being for Cork Rural District. The amounts of the loans allocated to the several counties is as follows: Antrim, £33,830; Armagh, £16,660; Donegal, £18,530; Down, £64,212; Londonderry, £9,180; Tyrone, £11,900; Cork, £5,815; Kerry, £9,750; Limerick, £17,730; Carlow, £1,700; Dublin, £6,120; Wexford, £2,000; Wicklow, £7,990; Galway, £1,360; Mayo, £2,550. Inquiries have been held in Cork Rural District during the last four years into four schemes proposing to provide in the aggregate 534 cottages. As regards the allegation that there are 1,600 applicants for cottages whose present dwellings have been condemned by the medical officers of health, the Local Government Board inform me that the number of cottages included in the pending schemes of this council is only 653, and of these only 254 are based on the grounds of the unfitness of the existing houses. The Board have no information as to the causes which may have contributed to the reduction of the population of the county Cork during the last ten years, but they have no reason to think, as suggested by the hon. Member, that a considerable percentage of the reduction is due to bad and insufficient housing accommodation. The rural district council have been fully informed of the causes of the delay in ordering a local inquiry into the schemes submitted. The234W distribution of the money is not being suspended; it is being applied in those districts where there is a greater need for additional housing accommodation than in Cork Rural District.
§ Mr. GUINEYasked the Chief Secretary in how many rural council districts in Munster have inquiries under the Labourers Acts been held within the year ended Slat December last; how many rural districts have applied for inquiries and been refused in the same province during the same period; and how many cottages have been authorised to be built in Munster as a result of inquiries held during the year 1912?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThree inquiries have been held in Munster during the year ended 31st December last into schemes formulated by rural district councils, namely, Castletown, Roscrea No. 1, and Kilmallock. The latter scheme involved additional half acres only and not cottages, the proposal being to borrow the money in the open market. During the same period schemes from ten rural districts in Munster were lodged with the Board, of which one (Castletown) was inquired into. As regards the alleged refusal to hold inquiries, the rural district councils have been frequently informed, and are fully aware, that the cases are being dealt with, not in order of priority of lodgment, but having regard to the comparative needs of the different districts in the matter of housing accommodation for the labouring class. During the year in question forty cottages have been authorised to be built in Munster as a result of inquiries held in that period. On 31st March, 1912, there were in Munster 16,122 cottages built, 1,638 in course of construction, and 1,827 others authorised and yet to be built, making a total of 19,587 cottages as compared with 16,938 in Leinster, 7,727 in Ulster, and 2,616 in Connaught.