asked the Minister for Lands if he will state the number of migrants transferred from County Kerry under the auspices of the Land Commission in each of the past ten years, and indicate (a) the average acreage allotted to each migrant, (b) the average cost of settling each migrant, (c) the total vacated acreage made available to the Land Commission for allotment among local applicants and (d) the average acreage allocated to each approved applicant.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Kerry Migrants.
The number of migrants taken from County Kerry in each of the past ten years is set out in a tabular statement which, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, will be circulated with the Official Report. The statement also contains the particulars requested at (a) and (c) in the question.
The information sought at (b) and (d) is not readily available and it would require considerable research to procure it. In present circumstances I would not feel justified in asking the Land Commission to divert staff for this purpose.
STATEMENT.
Migrations from County Kerry since 1st April, 1948.
|
Year |
Number of migrants |
Total area surrendered (acres) |
Average area of allotment per migrant (acres) |
|
1948-49 |
— |
— |
— |
|
1949-50 |
— |
— |
— |
|
1950-51 |
5 |
379 |
63 |
|
1951-52 |
6 |
445 |
57 |
|
1952-53 |
1 |
45 |
65 |
|
1953-54 |
9 |
705 |
55 |
|
1954-55 |
8 |
405 |
55 |
|
1955-56 |
8 |
522 |
66 |
|
1956-57 |
4 |
312 |
44 |
|
1957-58 |
7 |
600 |
51 |
|
TOTALS |
48 |
3,413 |
57 |
Where does the difficulty arise in arriving at the answer to (d), the average acreage allotted to each approved migrant?
Apparently it would entail a considerable amount of work to arrive at that and the Minister does not feel that he would be justified in present circumstances in staff spending time on finding that out.