asked the Minister for Lands if he will take steps to arrange the holdings in the townland of Muingingaun, Glenamoy, County Mayo, so that the tenants may be able to avail of housing grants, drainage grants, etc.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Arrangement of County Mayo Holdings.
This is one of the many congested townlands which have been noted for rearrangement. It will be dealt with as soon as the more urgent cases have been disposed of. The question of housing and other assistance has been noted for consideration in connection with the rearrangement scheme.
asked the Minister for Lands if he is aware that the Dickens estate, Achill, County Mayo, comprising the townlands of Ballinglanna, Bunninoo, Gobnahardia and Munellin was surveyed about three years ago, and if he will state whether there is any prospect of arranging the holdings on this estate in the near future, so as to abolish the existing rundale system.
Following the survey of this estate certain legal difficulties had to be settled. A recent inspection confirms that the majority of the holdings need to be rearranged but that a scheme cannot be prepared until such time as sufficient land has been made available for the enlargement of the holdings. The possibility of obtaining land by migration and resumption is at present being investigated.
Would the Minister put before the commissioners that this particular estate, which I believe is about the worst of its kind in the whole country, should be given priority in regard to any new holding which will become available and which is the property of the Land Commission and have migration on a large scale carried out on that estate with a view to eliminating the rundale that exists there; in other words, will the Minister give it immediate priority?
Although the Dickens estate is certainly one of the worst estates, there are, of course, other bad estates, and I have found it very difficult up to the present, in dealing with this rearrangement problem, to determine the order of priority. The Deputy will appreciate that it may not be possible to deal with the estate which is most badly in need of consideration by reason of the fact that there is no land available to go into the pool to increase the holdings. The question of the Dickens estate is under consideration and, if it is possible to take any steps by migration or otherwise to speed up the rearrangement, I will do everything possible to ensure that that is done.
In view of the fact that there are special difficulties in connection with this estate—one of the greatest difficulties which does not exist in other parts of the country being that the people use their own land as a form of currency — now that the survey has been completed and some kind of order has been brought about, at least on paper, in regard to the tenants, I think the Minister should give priority to this particular case, which without any doubt is the worst in the whole country.