asked the Minister for Lands and Agriculture if he will state the number of holdings which have been acquired by the Land Commission and divided since the passing of the Land Act, 1923; the acreage comprised in these holdings; the number of tenants that have been installed; the number of employees on the original holdings that have lost their employment through the distribution; the number of holdings in which preliminary steps have been taken with the object of division, and the acreage of same; and the number of holdings where, after due consideration, the Land Commission decided that it was inadvisable to divide the lands, and the acreage of such holdings.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - ACQUISITION OF HOLDINGS UNDER LAND ACT, 1923.
Since the passing of the Land Act, 1923, the Land Commission have acquired 57,400 acres of untenanted land, including some 7,600 acres in which the purchase proceedings had been instituted under Acts prior to that of 1923. Of these untenanted lands acquired under the Act of 1923, 28,100 acres have, to date, been divided into 1,042 parcels, and the selected allottees have been placed in occupation, and in the same period a further 70,000 acres have been divided by the Land Commission on Estates acquired by the (late) Congested Districts Board and the Estates Commissioners under Acts prior to that of 1923.
The Land Commission have no statistics available as to the number of persons who may have been employed on these lands prior to their acquisition, but it is the practice of the Commissioners in the division of land to consider the cases of employees, and 145 such persons have already been provided with parcels on lands acquired under the Land Act, 1923.
In addition to the foregoing lands, proceedings are pending before the Land Commission under the Act of 1923 in respect of some 174,000 acres of untenanted lands, and preliminary inquiries as to the suitability for acquisition are being made in respect of a further 675,000 acres. These figures are exclusive of some 120,000 acres in respect of which the Commissioners have, after inquiry, decided to take no present action.
Can the Minister say who decides as to the suitability or otherwise of the new tenants?
I am afraid the Deputy will have to address that question to the Minister when he comes back.