asked the Minister for Lands if he will state whether the Land Commission have allotted the Brady estate (Record No. S 9907), Bonestown, Dunshaughlin, with the exception of a playing pitch, to a migrant named Mr. McDonnell.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Allotment of County Meath Estate.
Mr. Tully
With the exception of a one-acre plot allotted to the Meath County Council as a cottage site, the entire Brady estate is still unallotted. It will be dealt with in conjunction with the Ratcliffe estates being acquired nearby.
Is the Minister aware that it seems to be common knowledge in Dunshaughlin that a gentleman named McDonnell is going to get that estate despite the fact that the Land Commission has informed me and other Deputies in this House that the land is likely to be given to local deserving applicants? Is it the practice of the Land Commission to give replies which are not exactly true to Deputies when they make inquiries?
The information that I have got from the Land Commission is that I understand several have been to see this estate but nobody has been selected. As regards the question of relieving local congestion, it is always the practice, and it is the policy of the Government that all local congestion in the vicinity of a farm in any county will be relieved before land is given to any migrants. I am sure that the Land Commission will not deviate from that policy in this case.
Is the Minister aware that what he has said has not been carried out in County Meath for a considerable period and numbers of deserving applicants get no consideration at all? I can give him hundreds of instances of that kind.
I would like to have them.
Will the Minister say if this gentleman was brought up to have a look at that farm?
I cannot say that.
Or were other people brought up?
My information is that a few people have been brought up, but that the estate is still unallotted except for a one-acre site given to Meath County Council.