Vol. 519 No. 5
128 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the criteria that will be used to allocate his Department's lands on the Paley Estate, Castlehackett, Belclare, Tuam, County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14180/00]
The lands in question were acquired under the Land Purchase Acts by the former land commission and were transferred to me, as Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, on the dissolution of that body under the Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act, 1992. The Dissolution Act lays down provisions governing the disposal of such lands and in particular requires that notice of every intended sale shall be published in a newspaper circulating in the county in which the land is situated.
A notice of the intended sale of the lands in question has been published and a considerable number of applications to purchase have been received. In considering these applications my Department will, as required under the Dissolution Act, have regard to the objectives and purposes of the former land commission and, so far as practicable, to the desire of any smallholder within five miles to acquire an interest in the land.
