asked the Minister for Lands if he will state the order of priority in which applicants for land are now listed by the Land Commission.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Priority of Land Applicants.
In the selection of allottees for parcels of untenanted land to be divided, the primary object of the Land Commission is the relief of congestion. Subject to that criterion, they consider applicants under the categories specified in Section 31 of the Land Act, 1923, as extended by Section 33 of the Land Act, 1933, to which as the statutory basis I would refer the Deputy. There is no specified statutory order of preference, but (subject to the statutory condition that the Land Commission must be satisfied as to the competence and intention of all allottees to work the land), broadly speaking, the applicants who are considered to have the strongest claim to allotment are:—Former herds or other employees on the lands acquired; former evicted tenants or their representatives; local uneconomic landholders; migrants who give up their holdings elsewhere for the relief of congestion; trustees for communal purposes, such as sportsfields, school gardens, turbary, pasturage, etc.; local applicants for accommodation and cottage plots; local landless men. In practice, any large scheme of division is likely to include persons or bodies coming under each of these categories.
Can the Minister say if he received representations to have that decision altered? Did the Minister for External Affairs recommend to him as a suitable applicant for a Land Commission holding a person who had taken forcible and illegal possession of a Land Commission house?
That is a separate question.
May I suggest that Deputies who want to ask supplementary questions should be allowed to do so without interruption from the Minister's clique?
Most of the statements were not questions.
This is a separate question. The best support of the Chair is to keep order and not to interrupt.