asked the Minister for Lands and Agriculture if he will state the amounts of land purchased by Committees of uneconomic landholders and landless men through the Irish Land Bank, and the amount of purchase money paid in respect of same, and how soon the Estate Commissioners expect to be in a position to take over such lands and distribute them: further, if he is aware that during the years 1919-1920 a number of similar Committees, on the advice and with the support of the National Organisation, purchased a number of estates with money raised in the various Joint Stock Banks, the bulk of which is still due to those institutions; what course the Commissioners intend to pursue in dealing with such cases, and whether in view of the fact that the interest and principal is accumulating, the Commissioners will lay down some definite rule so that both the Committees and the Banks can see where they stand.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - LAND PURCHASES THROUGH IRISH LAND BANK.
The area of the land, purchased by fifty Co-operative Farming Societies or Trustees by means of advances made by the National Land Bank amounts to 17,211 acres, and the advances made by the National Land Bank in respect of the purchase of these lands amounts to £365,065 19s. 9d.
The particulars of these lands have been lodged in the Land Commission, and the lands have been inspected and reports furnished to the Commissioners in respect of forty-one Societies. The proceedings in the Land Commission in respect of these cases are being expedited, but the Commissioners are not in a position to say when they will be completed.
As regards the estates referred to in the latter part of the question, I would refer the Deputy to my reply to a similar question asked by Deputy McCabe on the 4th June last. In these cases a very large area of the land is inspected—most of it.