asked the Minister for Lands if he will state why portion of the lands on the Alymer estate situate at Grange, Kilcock, County Kildare, was allotted to migrants when there were local applicants suitable for same, also if the said migrants could be suited elsewhere and their portions given to those local applicants.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Kildare Estates.
asked the Minister for Lands if he is aware that an allottee on the Alymer estate handed over his farm to another and selected one suitable to himself after having been in possession of the said farm for over a year; if he will state what claim this applicant had on the lands of Grange, Kilcock, County Kildare, and what special qualifications he had to entitle him to any land on the said estate, when applications from local applicants who were suitable were not considered, and what action he intends to take in the matter.
asked the Minister for Lands if applications from the local Old I.R.A. in the district will be considered when the lands of Pitchfordstown, on the Hannon estate, Kilcock, Kildare, and the lands of Newtown, on the Carr estate, Kilcock, Kildare, are being apportioned, and when such apportioning is likely to take place; also, if it is intended to facilitate a migrant on the latter estate, and, if so, why, when there are sufficient local applicants suitable for same.
Mr. Boland
I propose to take together the Deputy's three questions relative to the division of lands in the Kilcock area, and the selection of allottees therefor. The primary duty of the Land Commission is the relief of congestion in the most necessitous areas, and it is frequently necessary for this purpose to migrate landholders from districts where untenanted land is not available to other districts where land can be acquired, in order that the vacated holdings may be used to enlarge neighbouring small farms. The Land Commission endeavour to exercise their powers of migration with the minimum of disappointment to local applicants for land, and all claims are duly considered—particularly claims from accredited members of the Old I.R.A., which are specially noted. In the division of the Aylmer estate to which the Deputy refers, all the local small holders were provided for; a holding was given to a former herd on the estate, and 15 landless men were provided with holdings, in addition to the holdings given to two local migrants and one migrant from County Galway (who surrendered in exchange his three former holdings). With the approval of the Land Commission, an allottee subsequently exchanged the holding given him for another. The exchange facilitated the Land Commission as well as the allottee. Schemes of division are being prepared for the lands of Pitchfordstown, on the Hannon estate, and the lands of Newtown, on the Carr estate, but it is not yet possible to state when the division will be made.