asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries whether he can state on what grounds the Land Commission permitted the sale by private treaty of the Chapelfield Farm, on the Gordon Estate, in the parish of Kilglass, County Sligo; whether he is aware that as the result of the sale of this farm eleven neighbouring congested land holders have been deprived of conacre tillage and meadow which they obtained on this farm for upwards of thirty years; and whether, in view of the serious hardship inflicted on these tenants, he will state what action the Land Commission propose taking to provide these tenants with economic holdings.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Chapelfield Farm (Sligo).
The lands referred to as "the Chapelfield Farm" have not been the subject of proceedings for acquisition by the Land Commission, and the question of permission from the Land Commission to sell them did not therefore arise.
The Land Commission have the power to acquire the Chapelfield farm if they so desire. I am sure the Parliamentary Secretary is aware of the congestion in this locality and the need for the distribution of this farm among the uneconomic holders. Why can the Land Commission not exercise its compulsory powers for the purpose of acquiring this particular farm for sub-division?
This particular holding is subject to a land purchase annuity and if the Land Commission acquire it even now the owner will be entitled to claim an equivalent holding elsewhere and I am perfectly certain he would do so. In any event, this farm was not part of the original Gordon estate which was purchased by the Land Commission.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that this matter has received the serious attention of the North Sligo Comhairle Ceanntar of Cumann na nGaedheal and that he will probably hear from them about it?
The Deputy must not have any knowledge of the topography of the County Sligo or he wouldn't make that mistake.
May I ask whether Cumann na nGaedheal in North Sligo can be taken seriously?
In connection with the sale of the Chapelfield farm, is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the gentleman who purchased this farm was allowed by the Land Commission to sell four acres of another holding to his brother, an ex-member of the R.I.C., and that the Land Commission gave this ex-member of the R.I.C., an allotment on a neighbouring farm? Is he further aware that the Land Commission actually facilitated the purchaser of this farm in Chapelfield in creating a second farm for his brother by allowing him to assign four acres of another holding, the annual valuation of which was £17.
The Deputy is quite wrong. No sub-division has taken place. I made perfectly clear already that it was not necessary to get the consent of the Land Commission for the sale of this land. The owner was perfectly free to sell it to whomsoever he wished.
That is not a reply to my question. I asked the Parliamentary Secretary was it not a fact that the Land Commission enabled the purchaser of the Chapelfield Farm to dispose of portion of another holding of his and that they facilitated him in giving portion of it to his brother?
I have said that no sub-division of the Chapelfield Farm has taken place and the Land Commission has not agreed to the sub-division of that farm. No sub-division of it can take place without the sanction of the Land Commission.