asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries whether he will state the cause of the delay in vesting under the Land Act, 1923, the 113,969 acres which are still pending for sale under this Act in the county of Kerry, and if it is correct that only 5,044 acres were vested in Kerry, under this Act, up to April 17th, 1929, and whether he will now consent to transfer some of the existing officers in the Land Annuities Collecting Department to the Purchases Department, and thus expedite the division of land in the county of Kerry.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Division of Kerry Estates.
The area stated by the Deputy as having been vested in County Kerry up to the date mentioned is correct, in so far as it refers to tenanted land coming under the provisions of the Land Acts, 1923-7, but, in addition, up to the end of June last, 3,490 acres of untenanted land in County Kerry have been vested in the Land Commission under these Acts, and in respect of estates which were being sold and not dealt with under the Irish Land Acts, 1903-9 at the date of the transfer of the Land Commission to the Government of Saorstát Eireann. 135,136 acres in County Kerry have been vested in purchasers by the Land Commission since 1st April, 1923.
In dealing with estates of tenanted land under the Land Act, 1923-7, the work of the Land Commission had of necessity, up to the present, to follow the order of the lodgment of maps and schedules of particulars by owners over the whole twenty-six counties of the Saorstát. The Land Commission had no means of regulating the lodgments and the earlier lodgments were first taken up.
As a part of the rearrangement of the work of the Land Commission which is at present in progress, it is intended to take cognisance of counties which are backward as regards the unvested holdings, and now that practically all the lodgments have been made, it is hoped that this can be done with better results than hitherto. Every effort is being made to speed up the vesting of tenanted land generally, and the Bill at present before the Dáil is one of the means to that end.
There can be no question of transferring staff to the Purchase Branch from the Collection Branch, as the Collection staff is barely sufficient to cope with the volume of collecting work, and the collection of annuities in the County Kerry is especially troublesome, and requires more than normal attention and expenditure.