asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce:—
(a) Whether any negotiations have taken place, and, if so, with what results, for the transfer of the Lighthouses and Lightships on the Northern Coast of Ireland from the authority of the Commissioners of the Irish Lights Board, Dublin, to that of the Commissioners of the Northern Lights Board, Edinburgh;
(b) If the answer is in the affirmative to the first part of the question—(1) Whether such negotiations have been conducted with the knowledge and sanction and under the authority of the Government of Saorstát Eireann; and (2) what is the date, or approximate date, at which the transfer is expected to be effected; and (3) what provisions are contemplated for employés now serving in the lighthouses to be transferred; and
(c) When it is intended to proceed to the making of a Convention (pursuant to Article 2b of the Annex to the Treaty between Ireland and Great Britain), and whether it is the intention of the Ministry that such Convention shall, as regards Lighthouses and Lightships, be confined to those in the territory of Saorstát Eireann?
