asked the Minister for Agriculture what steps, if any, have been taken to acquire land in County Wicklow under Land Act, 1923, for distribution amongst the uneconomic holders.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - ACQUISITION AND DISTRIBUTION OF ESTATES.
PADRAIG O hOGAIN
(Clare) asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state when it is proposed to deal with the ranches in County Clare, and whether, considering the large number of landless men in the County, he will expedite the distribution of such land within the County.
PÁDRAIG O hOGÁIN
asked the Minister for Agriculture if it is proposed to acquire for distribution the estate of Loughville, Claureen, Ennis, Co. Clare, of which Thomas Crowe, Esq., Dromore, Ennis, is landlord, and, if so, how soon the distribution of the estate may be brought about.
Mr. HOGAN
With the consent of the Deputies concerned, I will answer these three questions together.
I am asked when the Land Commission propose to acquire certain lands in County Clare and County Wicklow. The answer is that at this stage I cannot say. The Land Commission have already completed all preliminary work in connection with arrears, payment in lieu of rent, the preparation and issuing of new rules and forms under the Land Act, 1923, and have for a considerable time been engaged on purchase work under the new Act. Already forms of particulars for obtaining the necessary information to lead to acquisition and vesting, have been prepared and issued, and particulars in regard to several hundreds of estates have been lodged in the Land Commission with these forms completed. Provisional lists of lands to be acquired are appearing weekly in every gazette for the last six months, and will continue to appear in every gazette for the future. Several estates have been surveyed, and appointed days can be fixed as soon as the time limit for objections expires. Now that the preliminary work has been done, the purchase work in connection with the new Act can be doubled, and in a few weeks trebled. I anticipate that by the end of the year appointed days will be fixed for far the greater number of unpurchased tenants of the country, and very large areas of untenanted land will have been acquired and considerable areas divided. That is the general position. Deputies are, of course, entitled to information as it becomes available, but at this stage I cannot answer as to when particular estates will be dealt with. I can only say that the Land Commission will take the most urgent cases first, and I am sure that the Deputies concerned will agree that that procedure cannot be departed from and estates taken out of their order of urgency merely because questions are asked about them in the Dáil.