asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is aware that a number of people in the City of Dublin with small pieces of land are anxious to sow vegetables in view of the present food emergency, but because of their financial circumstances —many of them being unemployed— are unable to purchase the necessary implements, seeds, etc., and whether, in view of the difficulty experienced by the Dublin Corporation in obtaining sufficient land for applicants for allotments, he will favourably consider extending the benefits of his Department's scheme of free implements, seeds, manures, etc., to all persons in necessitous circumstances who are prepared to grow vegetables in their own gardens.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Assisting Necessitous Plotholders.
Grants under the Acquisition of Land (Allotments) (Amendment) Act, 1934, are restricted to recoupment to a local authority or an approved association of the cost of providing, for unemployed persons, seeds, manures, spraying materials and the use of implements for the cultivation of allotments let to them by the local authority or approved association. I, therefore, regret that grants to provide seeds and other allotment requisites, in circumstances of the kind referred to by the Deputy, cannot be made.
Is the Minister aware that the quantity of land available to the Dublin Corporation for allotments is wholly inadequate to meet the demand for plots?
That is a separate question.