asked the Minister for Lands the amount of land awaiting division held by the Land Commission on the 5th April, 1972.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Division.
9.
Some 73,400 acres of arable land were in the possession of the Land Commission at 31st March, 1972, the latest date to which figures are available.
Would the Minister tell us why, despite numerous promises by different Ministers for Lands that land would not be kept for longer than two years, land is now in the hands of the Land Commission for four, five, six, seven and in some cases, ten years? Would the Minister not agree that land should be divided after at least two years in the hands of the Land Commission?
The Deputy did not keep his very long.
Thank God I have as much as ever I had now and a better farm.
You sold it to an American.
If that was true, why did he get away with 5 per cent? Can the Minister not tell us why land is being kept for so many years?
How could the Minister say anything when the Deputy was interrupting?
No. I was not interrupting. It was a Member of the Chair's own party who was interrupting and it is he who should be reprimanded and not I.
I have called Question No. 10.
Could the Minister not tell us why they will not expedite the division of land?
If the Deputy would allow me, I should certainly be delighted to answer the question. He is well aware of the fact——
The Minister is the whole Government today. There is nobody else there but himself.
I do not think the House wants to hear my reply.
(Interruptions.)
Give the Minister a chance.
We do not want to hear his reply.
I take it Deputy O'Donovan is not speaking for Fine Gael in this matter.
The reply does not matter. Nobody believes anything a Minister says now in this House.
They do. I believed him when he spoke about low standards in high places.
(Interruptions.)