asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state the total area of arable land classified by inspectors of his Department under the Compulsory Tillage Order as suitable for Tillage in respect of (a) Éire, (b) each of the counties in Éire, and (c) each electoral division in County Kildare.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Classification of Arable Land.
The area of arable land has not been generally assessed as it has not been possible for the inspectors operating in connection with the Compulsory Tillage Orders to deal with more than a small proportion of the holdings to which the Orders apply.
Is there any statistical information in the Department of Agriculture that will give the House an idea as to the amount of tillage land that we have? We are informed that we have 12,000,000 acres of arable land. Have we 12,000,000 acres of tillage land?
I think that would require a type of survey altogether outside the activities of the tillage inspectors.
But the Minister's inspectors are four years on the job and they ought to know something about it by this time.