asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries if he will state (1) (a) the number of estates vested in the Irish Land Commission on the 1st day of May, 1931, pursuant to the Land Acts 1923-31; (b) the number of such estates in respect of which the owners have not yet received the purchase money or payment in lieu of rent or interest on Land Bonds; (c) the cause of the delay in completing such sales, and if, in view of the consequent hardship on the owners, he will state what steps he proposes to take to remedy such hardship and to expedite completion; and (2) the number of sales under the said Acts completed during the year ended 30th June, 1933, and the total number of sales outstanding as at the said date.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Vested Estates.
1. (a) The number of estates vested in the Land Commission on the 1st May, 1931, under the provisions of Section 9 of the Land Act 1931 was 4,640.
(b) Payment in lieu of rent has been made in full to vendors in all cases up to the date of vesting in the Land Commission; vendors are entitled to make application under Section 36 of the Land Act, 1931, that the dividends on land bonds yet undistributed shall be paid out to the parties entitled thereto, as they accrue due. Interest in some 2,500 cases was paid out under Standing Orders, Section 36, on the 1st instant. The number of estates vested on the 1st May, 1931, in which the land bonds representing the purchase moneys have not yet been distributed by the Judicial Commissioner is not available and could not be ascertained without a long and laborious case to case investigation. The allocation of the purchase moneys of estates depends on the clearing of the vendors' titles, and the examination of titles is proceeding as rapidly as possible.
(c) Provisions to prevent hardship to owners are incorporated in Sections 35 and 36 of the Land Act, 1931. Under Section 35, purchase moneys of small amounts may be paid out rapidly to the parties appearing to be entitled thereto, without the delay of strict examination into title.
2. As regards the second part of the question, I am not quite clear as to what the Deputy means by "sales completed." If he refers to estates vested in the Land Commission under the Land Acts, 1923-31 during the year ended 30th June last, the number of such estates was 130 and only 15 estates for which schedules of particulars have been lodged, (other than lands coming under Section 34 of the Land Act 1927) remain to be vested in the Land Commission.