asked the Minister for Lands if he will state the principle on which land is at present being divided, mentioning the different types of applicants in their order of preference.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Method of Land Division.
In the selection of allottees for parcels of untenanted land to be divided, the primary object of the Land Commission is the relief of congestion. Subject to that criterion they consider applicants under the categories specified in Section 31 of the Land Act, 1923, as extended by Section 33 of the Land Act, 1933, to which as the statutory basis I would refer the Deputy. There is no specified statutory order of preference, but (subject to the statutory condition that the Land Commission must be satisfied as to the competence and intention of all allottees to work the land) broadly speaking the applicants who are considered to have the strongest claim to allotment are—former herds or other employees on the lands acquired, former evicted tenants or their representatives, local uneconomic landholders, migrants who give up their holdings elsewhere for the relief of congestion, trustees for communal purposes, such as sportsfields, school gardens, turbary, pasturage, etc., local applicants for accommodation and cottage plots, local landless men. In practice any large scheme of division is likely to include persons or bodies coming under each of these categories.