asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that owners of land taken for the building of the Athy-Wolfhill railway some years back have not yet been paid compensation; if he will make inquiry as to the particular body that is responsible for payment, and also as to why it has been withheld for such a length of time.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. (ORAL ANSWERS.) - ATHY-WOLFHILL RAILWAY—COMPENSATION FOR LAND.
There are in all nine cases of owners of land who have not yet been paid compensation. In every case the delay is due to the difficulty in completing the legal formalities either because agreement could not be reached until after the coming into operation of the Land Act, 1923, when the landlord and the chargeants upon his interest had to be joined in each deed, or because a clear title has not yet been shown to the holdings acquired.
My Department has inherited the functions of the Ministry of Transport in this matter, and will complete the transactions as soon as legally practicable. I have little doubt that they will be completed in the course of this year.
Is the Minister aware that the land has been taken for the last ten years?
The fact that the land has been taken for a long period does not add anything new to my information on the subject. I have already alluded to that, and I have stated that the delay was due more or less to the fact that the people whose land was acquired would not accept compensation until the question of the Land Act, 1923, came along, and that further to and since that, there is a question of clear legal title, free from incumbencies, to the land. When these points have been cleared up the matter will be settled.
Have these points been made clear to the people concerned?
They are clear to the people concerned. It is the people concerned who have raised these points.