asked the Minister for Lands if the Land Commission will dispose of good houses on farmlands which they purchase to the appropriate county council for the relief of homeless people, where the houses are not needed by the Commission.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Commission Houses.
22.
Normally where houses on lands acquired by the Land Commission are not required for ordinary land settlement purposes they are offered for sale by public auction. However, the Land Commission do give—and will continue to give— sympathetic consideration to applications by local authorities for the purchase of particular houses which are surplus to the requirements of the land programme.
Is the Minister aware that the Land Commission keep these houses for quite a long time before they give them to the local authority or offer them for sale?
I am looking into this whole matter at the moment.
Would the Minister agree that when the Land Commission acquire an estate on which there is a house fit for habitation it should be disposed of as soon as possible to somebody in need of housing? If it is left there for a number of years, as the Land Commission often leave such houses, it falls into disrepair.
As I said, I am very concerned about this situation and I am looking into it very closely.