asked the Minister for Lands the amount of land held by the Land Commission in County Mayo on 30th April, 1961, the names of the former owners and the location of these lands, and the area and valuation of each lot.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Held by Land Commission in Mayo.
34.
Land Commission activities in Co. Mayo are heavily concentrated and involve numerous estates and holdings. Many of these properties are of very small acreage and include remnants of Congested Districts Board estates, lands surrendered by migrants and small residues of allotted estates.
The Deputy will appreciate that the extraction of the precise details requested would entail a disproportionate expenditure of staff time and labour which would not be warranted. Moreover, as the position regarding lands in the possession of the Land Commission is subject to constant fluctuation, depending on progress in intake and allotment, the extensive detailed information sought—even if staff were to be specially diverted to extract it—could well be out of date within a very short time.
In the circumstances, perhaps it would meet the Deputy's requirements to know that at 31st March, 1961—apart from substantial areas of mountain, turbary, etc.—the Land Commission had on hands in Co. Mayo an aggregate area of some 2,300 acres of arable land for use as a working pool for land settlement in the county.
If the Deputy is concerned about a particular estate and furnishes details thereof, I shall have the matter examined.
Did the figure the Minister give include lands in the possession of the Land Commission which have been sublet for some time back?
It includes the total amount of land in the hands of the Land Commission, but it does not state whether they are let or sublet by the Land Commission.