asked the Minister for Lands whether he is aware that the tenants on the Marshall estate, Calinafercy West, County Kerry, are unable to pay the levy imposed on them by his Department in connection with the carrying through of the repair and construction of sea embankments in that area and whether he will accept a minimum payment from the tenantfarmers concerned.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Kerry Sea Embankments.
The affected occupiers were informed that an expenditure of £6,600 was sanctioned for repairs to the River Maine embankments at Calinafercy West, on the condition that they would contribute £1,320 towards the cost. The occupiers have offered to contribute only £90 and unless a greatly increased offer is made by them, the matter cannot be further considered.
Is the Minister aware that the tenants on this estate find the levy imposed on them by his Department much too heavy? This concerns a small number of tenants who cannot out of their own resources meet this heavy charge and will he again ask the Department of Finance to deal sympathetically with these people who find themselves unable to pay this imposition?
It is wrong for the Deputy to refer to it as an imposition. An expenditure of £6,600 was sanctioned for the repairs to the embankments on the condition that the benefiting farmers—the farmers who own their land there, the vested, not the unvested, farmers—would meet us by contributing £1,320 towards the cost which, I think, is not unreasonable. The occupiers offered to contribute only £90. I regard that as treating our effort to benefit them as a joke, and I think they would be well advised to reconsider the question of an offer.