HC Deb 26 February 1931 vol 248 cc2316-7W
Sir N. GRATTAN-DOYLE

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury how much have the tenants of Ireland, including Northern Ireland, repaid by their annuities under the Land Purchase Acts since 1885 up to the present; and what is the estimate of the amount still owing of the £125,000,000 advanced?

Mr. PETHICK - LAWRENCE

The amounts of the advances and repayments under the Irish Land Purchase Acts, 1891 to 1925, are as follow:

£
Total Advances 121,714,000
Amount Repaid 23,044,000
Amount Outstanding 98,670,000

The above advances include £5,279,229 advanced to local authorities under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1906 and 1911, in respect of which the amount repaid cannot readily be separately ascertained. As regards the Irish Land Purchase Acts, 1885–1888, the total advances amounted to £9,992,536, of which £3,166,563 had been repaid by the 31st March, 1923, leaving £6,825,973 outstanding at that date. The advances under these Acts were made from the Local Loans Fund, and as the outstanding liability for the repayment of advances from this Fund in the Irish Free State, both for Land Purchase and otherwise, has been commuted for a 20-year annuity, of £600,000, it is not possible to give figures of the total amounts repaid and outstanding since 1923.