asked the Minister for Fisheries if he is prepared to take steps to declare the Appointed Day under Section 70 of the Land Act, 1923, so that tenant purchasers may thereby become entitled to the full reduction in their rentals which the terms of the Act allow them.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - APPOINTED DAY UNDER LAND ACT, 1923.
Estates are dealt with by the Land Commission in their order of priority, as determined by the dates on which the prescribed schedules of particulars are lodged, and the Appointed Day is fixed in respect of each estate according as the various matters arising on the sale of the estate are disposed of. The appointed day has already been fixed in respect of 389 tenanted estates, comprising 1,066 holdings, representing a purchase money of £541,821. The provisions of Section 2 of the Land Act, 1927, permitting the outstanding compounded arrears of rent to be added to the purchase money will enable the "appointed day" to be declared for a very considerable number of additional holdings at an early date. The work is being proceeded with as expeditiously as the nature and complexity of the matters involved permit.
Inasmuch as delay in furnishing returns is not due to the tenants, does the Parliamentary Secretary not think it an injustice that the tenants should be deprived of the full benefits of the Act, through no fault of their own, and will he take action to relieve that disability, even if it is necessary to introduce legislation?
I agree the delay in the returns is not due to the tenants. There is frequently delay on the part of the landlords, and the tenants have no power to force the landlords to send in the returns quickly.
If there is delay on the part of the landlords, is it not possible to take action to relieve the tenants, in view of the fact that the delay is not through any fault of theirs?
Will the Parliamentary Secretary state if it is not the custom of the Land Commission to wait until all the arrears on each estate are paid off, so that they can vest the whole estate, and whether a considerable amount of vesting could not be done if the vesting was done by farms on the estates, and not by whole estates? Will the Land Commission take steps to have arrangements of that kind carried out?
That is really a different question altogether.
It arises out of the main question.
The Deputy knows the answer already.