§ Mr. SHEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that several labourers in the Macroom district have been waiting for years to have cottages sanctioned for them by the Local Government Board built, and that in some cases the plots have actually been fenced in and used by the prospective tenants; can he explain the cause of the delay in building proper dwellings for those labourers whose present abodes have been condemned by the officers of public health as unfit for human habitation; and will the Local Government Board represent to the Macroom District Council the necessity for building at once those cottages that have been sanctioned?
§ Mr. BIRRELLAs stated in my reply to the question of the hon. Member on this subject on 13th January, 1913, a communication was addressed to the Macroom Rural District Council by the Local Government Board suggesting the desirability of issuing advertisements for contractors for the erection of the cottages, and it subsequently appeared from the council's minutes that tenders for some twenty cottages were accepted. The Board have no further information as to the number of cottages now remaining to be built, but they are in communication with the council as to the progress of the scheme.