asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state (a) the estimated cost per acre of the reclamation work at present being undertaken on the Fitzpatrick farm at Craglea, Ennis, under the land rehabilitation project, and (b) whether any similar work has hitherto been carried out here or elsewhere; and, if so, the actual cost per acre.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Clare Land Rehabilitation Project.
(a) I cannot undertake to give in Dáil Éireann the estimated cost per acre of work in respect of individual farms dealt with under the land project, as applicants are entitled to the assurance that the rehabilitation of their lands under the project does not involve the liability of having their personal affairs and circumstances made the subject of public debate in Oireachtas Éireann.
(b) Similar work, i.e., the removal of scrub and boulders and demolition of old fencing, has been carried out in Clare and elsewhere. The cost per acre varies very considerably, depending on the nature and extent of the work. To give figures of cost alone without indicating the variable factors on which they depend would, therefore, be misleading.