asked the Taoiseach if he will state as regards the area occupied by large agricultural holdings, in expansion of paragraph 103 of the Report of the Commission on Emigration (Pr. 2541) and Table 73 of the Statistical Abstract, 1958, giving separate figures for each province and total figures for the State, (1) the farm size groups over 50 acres, (2) number of farms in each group and approximate acreage occupied by each size group and (3) the percentage of the total agricultural area in each case.
Written Answers. - Large Agricultural Holdings.
56.
The latest available data concerning the total acreage and the agricultural area (i.e. crops and pasture) of the farms in various size groups are those for the year 1949. The particulars requested in respect of each province have been published in Tables 3 and 4 of the article "Agricultural Statistics—Analysis of crops and livestock by size of holding, 1949" on pp. 2et seq. of the March, 1952 issue of the Irish Trade Journal and Statistical Bulletin.
The latest available data concerning the total number of agricultural holdings in each size group are those in respect of the year 1955 which are given in the 1958 Statistical Abstract of Ireland to which the Deputy refers.