asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will consider landless men for some small portion of land beside their homes so that they can have their own crops and vegetables.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Landless Men.
14.
The primary aim of land settlement policy is to enlarge and improve the many thousands of existing holdings which are too small and too poor to provide a tolerable standard of living for their owners. The Land Commission find it impossible— and especially in those areas where the problem is most acute—to secure enough land to reach even their primary objective.
The general situation is therefore that they cannot normally afford to set aside land for allotment in plots to people such as the Deputy has in mind.
Nevertheless, landless applicants— while in general they must remain low in priority—are not excluded from consideration; their claims are always carefully examined in the disposal of lands which are not required for the structural reform of uneconomic holdings. As a general rule it would seem to be realistic to ensure that those already on the land in an uneconomic way are first catered for before introducing any new group of competitors for a very scarce commodity.