To ask the Minister for Agriculture if it is a fact that the Land Act of 1903 contains a provision which forbids the sub-letting by purchased tenants of any land or buildings for which Land Purchase Funds were advanced, except with the consent of the Land Commission; if it is a fact that there has been considerable sub-letting of purchased houses in the town of Athenry; was the sanction of the Land Commission obtained in these cases; is he aware that at present five of these sub-tenants are under notice of eviction; whether he is prepared to put a stay on the eviction of these tenants pending investigation of the circumstances by the Land Commission, and whether, assuming the eviction takes place, the Land Commission will be again prepared to sanction the sub-letting of these houses.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. [ ORAL ANSWERS. ] - SUB-LETTING AND EVICTION.
The Land Act of 1903 provides that proprietors of holdings for the purchase of which advances have been made under the Act are not to sub-divide or let them without the consent of the Land Commission. The Commissioners understand that there were weekly or monthly sub-tenants on some of the holdings referred to at the time the advances were made, but since the making of the advances no consent appears to have been applied for or given. The Commissioners have no knowledge of the eviction proceedings referred to in the question, nor is it a matter in which they could interfere. If application is made to the Commissioners for their consent to sub-lettings under the provisions of the Act the matter will be considered.