asked the Minister for Lands if he will take the necessary steps to ensure that the claims of all the deserving local applicants for land on the Kelly estate, Ballymeelish, Leix, are satisfied before giving portion of the lands to migrants.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Allotment of Holdings on Leix Estate.
asked the Minister for Lands if he is aware that portion of the Kelly estate, Ballymeelish, Leix, was given to a female old age pensioner who was more than 80 years of age and bedridden, and whether, in view of the fact that the above mentioned pensioner died within a month of securing the allotment, he will state the name of the person who now holds this portion of land, and also if the Minister will consider the advisability of reallotting the holding to an uneconomic holder in the locality.
I propose dealing with Deputy O'Higgins two questions together.
The claims of all deserving applicants in the locality were considered by the Land Commission before it was decided to transfer migrants to the lands of Ballymeelish, Leix, on the Kelly estate.
No allotment on the estate of L.J. Kelly, Rec. No. S784811 at Ballymeelish was made to an aged woman, but a parcel of four acres on the lands acquired from the same owner at Derrinsallagh, Leix, Rec. No. S78481 was allotted in November, 1937, to Mrs. Ellen Rourke, an aged woman, as an enlargement of a holding of which she was the tenant. Martin Fitzpatrick, her son-in-law, was living with her with his wife and family and was working her holding.