asked the Minister for Lands if he will state (1) the total number of holdings for which purchase negotiations have been entered into by the Land Commission under Section 27 of the Land Act, 1950, in each of the following counties, viz., (a) Kildare, (b) Meath, (c) Westmeath, (d) Tipperary, (e) Dublin, and (f) Offaly; (2) the total number of such holdings purchased; and (3) the total acreage purchased and the total price paid.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Purchase of Holdings Offered for Sale.
The Land Commission have not entered into purchase negotiations under Section 27, Land Act, 1950, in respect of any lands in the counties mentioned. Efforts made to purchase under Section 27 three holdings in County Meath which were offered for sale by public auction were unsuccessful.
The counties I have mentioned specifically in the question are the counties where the fine land is available or should be available for the relief of congestion. Is it not a fact that, since 1950, no effort whatever has been made by the Minister for Lands or the Department of Lands to solve congestion by the utilisation of Section 27 of the 1950 Act and, therefore, is not the whole Act a sheer bluff as far as the congests and uneconomic holders are concerned?
The amount of the grant has been such that the application of this section has been confined to the congested districts counties, the policy being that the money should be used to pick up easily-got properties for cash that would help in rearrangement. There has been no effort to extend.
Would the Minister state, whether, when this Act was going through this House as a Bill, there was any question that it would be confined solely to counties where congestion exists? Is it not a fact that the Act was to embrace any part of the country where suitable land could be found?
Is it not well known to anyone who understands the subject of land tenure and purchase in this country that the provisions of this section were designed for the acquisition of small holdings in congested areas which would normally be disposed of by free sale and that the traditional and appropriate procedure for large holdings in Meath, Westmeath, Kildare and likewise, is compulsory purchase where that is socially or economically desirable? That cock will not fight.
You made a mess of agriculture without trying to make a mess of lands as well.