andMichael Óg McFadden asked the Minister for Lands if he will introduce proposals for legislation to give nonIrish speakers in the Gaeltacht the benefits of the Gaeltacht Housing Acts as regards purchase of materials, derating, etc., which they are deprived of at the moment under the Housing Acts and whether he will arrange that the present position as regards demolition of old dwellinghouses be clarified.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Gaeltacht Housing Acts.
Proposals for amending legislation on the lines indicated in the first part of the question are under consideration. As regards the latter part of the question, the position is clearly set out in sub-section (3), Section 6 of the Housing (Gaeltacht) Act, 1929.
In view of the fact that the proposal the Minister has now announced would mean that well-to-do farmers on the west bank of the Shannon would qualify for these facilities while quite poor farmers on the east bank would be denied them and, further, in view of the fact that this position has been brought about by the indiscriminate distribution of the application forms by one of the signatories to the present question on the west of the Connemara area, will the Minister modify his proposal so as to confine it to the congested districts area and limit it to the Congested Districts Board's valuation outside the Gaeltacht area; and, furthermore, will he take the word "Gaeltacht" out of the Title of the Bill?
The terms of the new measure, if and when it is passed into law, will cover the same area as that to which the present Gaeltacht Housing Acts apply.
It goes up to the Shannon.
That may be.