asked the Minister for Lands if he will circulate to members of the Oireachtas a quarterly table giving the areas (i) offered to the forestry branch, (ii) inspected, (iii) approved, (iv) for which a price has been offered, (v) on which agreement has been reached on price, (vi) possession of which has been taken, and (vii) offered by the Land Commission to the branch.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Areas for Forestry.
As a statement on the lines suggested by the Deputy would not, in my view, be of sufficient value to warrant its circulation to Deputies, I am not prepared to adopt his suggestion.
Will the Minister make a copy available to Deputies on request? If he will not circulate it to Deputies and Senators, will he circulate it to those who request him?
As the Deputy knows from experience, figures given under the headings to which he has referred are capable of very misleading interpretation. For example, under subhead (1)—lands offered to the forestry branch—the figure that could be given there might bear no resemblance or very little resemblance to the area which, in fact, is actually being offered. The areas in question for which I would supply the figure would have really no great resemblance to the final area that might come on offer.
We know that.
With regard to the other sub-heads in the question, as the Deputy knows, areas may be inspected or approved or negotiations actually opened for their purchase and still they may not be acquired in the end. One particular part of the information for which the Deputy is looking, namely No. (vi), is published quarterly in the Irish Trade Journal. That is a very definite figure as to land actually acquired. With regard to the others, I suggest that if Deputies want information regarding current proceedings either in globo, or in areas, I will try to let them have the information, as is customary, in reply to a question in the Dáil.
Will the Minister not agree with regard to the information I have requested that even if he had left out No. 1—areas offered to the forestry branch—and had come to the more concrete and tangible ones, that would be much more desirable than having individual Deputies putting down questions? Would the Minister not agree that it would be less expensive from the point of view of the usage of the time of the officials of the Department?
I do not think so.
I think it would.