asked the Minister for Lands if he intends to introduce proposals for legislation to repeal or amend Section 29 of the Land Act, 1950, so as to enable the Land Commission to revert to the practice of allotting holdings of land to all persons employed on estates taken over for division by the Land Commission.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - The 1950 Land Act.
Section 29 does not prevent the Land Commission from allotting a holding to any displaced employee and therefore the question of its repeal or amendment does not arise.
Ex-employees are listed in Section 31, Land Act, 1923, amongst the categories of persons eligible to qualify for allotments and that eligibility has not been withdrawn.
asked the Minister for Lands if he will request the Land Commission to review the 89 cases in which compensation was payable under Section 29 of the Land Act, 1950, with a view to raising the average amount of compensation to a reasonable figure.
Before deciding the amount of the gratuity given under the section to which the Deputy refers, the Land Commissioners made very careful inquiries regarding the general circumstances of each individual case and the nature of the employment lost. I therefore see no point in asking the commissioners to review all such cases.
Is the Minister aware that a herd who has been in charge of a farm for about 15 years in the Julianstown area of County Meath and who had a number of cattle grazing on a particular farm has had his stock put on the road by the sheriff's men during the week and has been offered £125 compensation, which could not under any circumstances be called adequate compensation for the loss he has suffered?
I am not aware of the particular case the Deputy refers to, but the determination of the compensation for the land that a displaced person would get is a matter entirely for the commissioners, and my information from the commissioners is that, in deciding whether a displaced employee will get compensation by way of cash or land, they go very carefully into the following points:—age, family, nature of employment, the length of the term employed, whether employment would ordinarily have continued, possibilities for obtaining new employment, wages, freedoms and perquisites, character and qualifications as workmen.
May I take it from the Minister's answer that he will not interfere in any particular case that comes for decision under this section of the Act? Is that so?
In any particular case?
In any case.
No. The Land Acts prevent me from so doing. They prevent anybody. The Land Acts leave that matter entirely to the discretion of the commissioners.