asked the Minister for Lands whether he will state the number of acres of arable land suitable for tillage in the acreage given in his reply to Question No. 19 on the Order Paper of the 1st April, 1954.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Tillage Land.
The reply to which the Deputy refers mentioned an area of over 3,000 acres let in tillage and approximately 25,000 acres let in grazing. It is estimated that less than half of the total area involved comprises arable land suitable for tillage.
In considering the area let in tillage it must be borne in mind that the lands on hands include second crop meadows, impoverished lands in need of rehabilitation, land inadequately fenced for tillage, etc. In addition lands on hands are often required for allotment as new holdings in the autumn so that it would not be feasible to make tillage lettings of an undue proportion of them in the early part of the year.
Taking all these matters into consideration, the Land Commission let in tillage as much as possible of the arable land which cannot be speedily allotted.
This season, as in previous seasons, I arranged with the Land Commission to let in tillage as much as possible of the arable lands they could not allot this spring and the Deputy can be assured that this has been done.