asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether he is aware that a number of otherwise very suitable and deserving applicants for allotments are debarred from getting same owing to the requirement that applicants' earnings must not during the qualifying period have exceeded £39; and whether he is prepared to have this condition revised.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Conditions for Allotment Applicants.
I have had no representations that would indicate that applicants generally for allotments are unable to secure them. It would not be correct to say that any applicant for an allotment is debarred from getting an allotment from an urban authority by reason of his earnings being in excess of £39 a year. Where the applicant is unemployed he can be given an allotment at a nominal rent of 1/- a year, but in the case of any other person the local authority is expected to obtain the full rent for the allotment. If applicants who are not entitled to an allotment at a nominal rent are unable to pay the full amount in one sum, I see no objection to the local authority making suitable arrangements with the applicants to accept the rent in instalments. In villages and towns the county councils can provide workers with allotments under the Labourers Acts.
Mr. Larkin
Is the Minister aware that, in the City of Dublin, there are men over 70 years of age, active men receiving the old age pension, who were cultivating land for the past four or five years and who have been denied the right to continue doing so.
I am not aware that any person who wishes to cultivate a plot is debarred from cultivating it. The position is that plots which are intended for unemployed, able-bodied persons cannot be given at a nominal rent to persons in receipt of old age pensions.