asked the Minister for Lands (a) how many schemes of land distribution have been carried out by the Land Commission in North Mayo during the year ended 31st December 1961, (b) the names of the estates divided and of the allottees, and (c) how many estates are at present in the hands of the Land Commission in North Mayo, the names and localities of those estates, and when it is proposed to divide them.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - North Mayo Land Distribution.
63.
Land Commission records are related to financial years and are not kept by reference to constituency areas.
Land Commission activities in County Mayo are heavily concentrated and involve numerous estates and holdings. Many of the properties are of modest size and include remnants of Congested Districts Board estates, land surrendered by migrants and small residues of allotted estates. The Deputy will appreciate that the extraction of the detailed information requested would entail a disproportionate expenditure of official time and labour which would not be warranted. Moreover, as regards lands in the possession of the Land Commission for distribution, the position is subject to constant fluctuation—depending on progress on intake and allotment— and the extensive information sought, even if staff were to be diverted specially to extract it, would be out of date within a very short time.
In the circumstances, perhaps, it would meet the Deputy's requirements to know that during the financial year ended 31st March, 1962, a total area of approximately 9,600 acres was distributed amongst some 360 allottees and that, at 31st March, 1962, the Land Commission had on hands in County Mayo—apart from substantial areas of mountain, turbary, etc.—an aggregate area of about 2,650 acres of arable land for use as a working pool for land settlement in the county.
If the Deputy is concerned about any particular estate, and furnishes details thereof, I shall have the matter examined.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the Ballina office deals entirely with the constituency of North Mayo? Surely separate information should be available from that office?
The records are kept in Land Commission headquarters on the basis of each county.