asked the Minister for Justice whether he is aware that the dispensary residence of the Lahardane Dispensary District, Castlebar Union, Co. Mayo, is occupied by the Gárda Síochána for the past two years; that Dr. Jane Brennan, the Medical Officer of the District, whose residence the Gárda occupies, could not get lodgings in the district and had to take up residence in Castlebar, about 12 miles away; that the poor of the district, which is one of the poorest and most congested in the West, are now without a doctor, and if he will state what steps, if any, are being taken by his Department to provide suitable Barracks for the Gárda and give over possession of the Dispensary Residence to the Mayo Board of Health.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - LAHARDANE DISPENSARY RESIDENCE.
I am aware that the Gárda Síochána occupy the Medical Officer's house at Lahardane, and I accept the Deputy's statement that such occupation causes inconvenience. The Board of Works have been requested to take immediate steps to provide alternative accommodation, but I understand that no alternative premises are available, and that it will be necessary to erect a new barrack. With this object the Board of Works are making enquiries for a suitable site.
Pending the erection of a new building it would not be possible to evacuate the present house, unless the Guards were withdrawn from Lahardane, and in the interests of the district itself I am not prepared to authorise such withdrawal.