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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 22 Oct 1924

Vol. 9 No. 1

CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - DISMISSED FARM LABOURERS.

asked the Minister for Lands and Agriculture whether he is aware that some fifteen farm labourers working on the Palmer Estate, Clogherinkoe, Co. Kildare, have received notice of dismissal from the owner of about 800 acres of land recently bought by the Irish Land Commission; further, whether, as some of them have been employed all their lives on those lands, and as unemployment means hardship and starvation to their families, and possibly emigration, he will see that they be given a fair share of the lands from which they have been deriving their only means of livelihood.

The untenanted lands held by Charles Colley Palmer in the townlands of Brackagh, Carrick, Corwig, Grange East and Grange West, County Kildare, have been inspected, and their acquisition under the provisions of the Land Act, 1923, is under consideration by the Land Commission.

In the distribution of lands acquired by the Land Commission due regard is had to the cases of labourers living on or in the vicinity of the lands whom the Land Commission consider competent to work lands.

Has the Minister any assurance to give that the taking over of those lands will not mean the deprivation of the means of employment of the men now working there? Can he assure the Dáil that the Land Commission will keep the men in employment, as they have been in employment up to now?

Mr. HOGAN

I am not in a position to give the assurance that the Land Commission will commence farming operations. That is the assurance that the Deputy really asks me to give. A section of the Land Act provides that the labourers who, by reason of the acquisition of the land by the Land Commission, are to be put out of employment shall be considered for farms, if suitable. The Land Commission are aware of that section, and they will give full consideration to any applications or claims that can be regarded as suitable. Any claim they have will be considered.

There is an interregnum now, when the employer is dismissing these men or giving them notice of dismissal because he is handing over the land to the Land Commission. What is to become of these men during the period before the lands will be divided?

Mr. HOGAN

The fact that the Land Commission is distributing these lands is no reason for the dismissal of these workmen by the owner of the lands. The lands will not become the property of the Land Commission until vested. Meanwhile the owner is free to carry on his farming as he has carried it on previously. The Land Commission will consider, after having acquired the land, if they are doing any improvement work on the estate, the cases of the men who have been previously employed on the estate.

Is there any way by which the Minister can ensure that these men will not be deprived of employment by the enforcement of this Land Act in these cases?

Mr. HOGAN

Deputy Johnson is in the same position as myself in this matter; that is to say neither of us is in a position to say whether the men have been dismissed because of the Land Commission having acquired land or whether they were dismissed for other reasons. I cannot give an assurance that the Land Commission will commence farming operations after having acquired land in order to give men work. The work of the Land Commission is not to farm the lands, but to divide them as expeditiously as possible.

Is the Land Commission going to start clearances and evictions the same as of old? Is that what it amounts to?

Mr. HOGAN

I am glad to be in a position to give a definite answer to one question. The Land Commission do not intend to start evictions or clearances, and they have never done so.

Will the Minister say whether his Department will take any steps to prevent the lands lying idle in the interregnum?

Mr. HOGAN

That is begging the question. The lands are not idle. The lands are still, I believe, the property of the owner.

But does he work them?

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