asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware that the Kerry deputy county manager is not prepared to appoint women as tenants of new labourers' cottages; and if, in view of the hardship involved, particularly to widows with families, he will clarify the position.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Tenancy of Kerry Cottages.
A cottage provided under the Labourers Acts may be let to a woman who is an agricultural labourer within the meaning of those Acts or is a member of the working classes living in the county health district.
The regulations provide that in the letting of a cottage the housing authority shall, wherever practicable, give first preference to an applicant who is a person normally engaged in doing agricultural work for hire on the land of some other person and whose principal means of living is such work, or a man normally engaged in doing agricultural work on the land of a relative with whom he resides, or a herdsman. The exercise of this preference and of the other preferences in the regulations is, I am advised, subject to the overriding considerations set out in the regulations, viz, the character, industry, occupation, family circumstances and existing housing conditions of the applicants.
The regulations also provide that for the purpose of determining the order of priority within a class ofapplicants to which preference is required to be given, the housing authority shall obtain and have regard to a report and recommendation from the chief medical officer.