asked the Minister for Agriculture when the administrator under the Connemara scheme division of the land project took up duty and what recommendations, if any, have been submitted by him to date.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - The Land Project.
Mr. Walsh
The officer referred to took up duty on 1st June, 1951. No recommendations have as yet been submitted by him.
An election stunt.
Mr. O'Higgins
It was a successful one.
You took it up, with three Parliamentary Secretaries to boot.
asked the Minister for Agriculture whether any rock clearance operations have been initiated under the special Connemara scheme under the land project; and, if so, what measure of success has attended the procedure.
Mr. Walsh
The answer to the first part of the question is "Yes". Surface rocks have been successfully removed by machinery from approximately six statute acres.
Is it the intention of the Minister, as a result of his experience of that initial phase, to continue the project or to abandon it?
Mr. Walsh
There is no decision. We will try another six acres.
You will?
Mr. Walsh
Yes.
Then you will carry on the scheme.
Mr. Walsh
Yes, and we hope to make much better progress than the Deputy did.
But you are carrying on the scheme. I want to pin your ear down to that.
I wonder if the Minister is in a position to say what was the total expenditure in clearing these six acres?
Mr. O'Higgins
The cost was the number of votes you dropped in the last election.
It did not cost as much as the five votes did.
asked the Minister for Agriculture what special terms are available to farmers under £10 valuation in Connemara under the land rehabilitation project and what further provision does he propose to improve the existing arrangements.
Mr. Walsh
Under the land project, the following facilities are available to farmers under £10 valuation in Connemara:—
(1) Grants are based on three-fourths of the estimated cost of reclamation work, subject to a maximum grant of £24 per statute acre.
(2) Where work is carried out by the Department, the applicant's contribution, irrespective of the cost of the work, is £1 per acre.
(3) Where required, fertilisers, including ground limestone, potash and compound manures to a maximum value of £8 per acre will be supplied free of cost for application to the land reclaimed.
For the present I do not propose to modify or extend the scheme.
You are just going to carry on.