asked the Minister for Lands if he will state (a) the upper poor law valuation limit and (b) the maximum distance as regards residence now in operation in order that an applicant may qualify for an addition of land on the division of an estate by the land Commission.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Qualifications for Land Additions.
38.
Following are the replies to the two parts of the Question:—(a) Having regard to the wide range of holdings and varying forms of land use in different localities throughout the country as a whole, it would not be feasible to determine applications for enlargements solely on the basis of the Rateable Valuation of the parent holdings. In practice the Land Commission would overall find it difficult to operate any rigid rule specifying a qualifying upper valuation limit. In general, a person is regarded as an uneconomic holder if he is mainly dependent for a livelihood on the produce of a holding which cannot be regarded as adequate to support a family in frugal comfort, even under the best management. The objective in the allotment of additional land is to provide the allottee, as far as circumstances permit, with an economic unit which at the moment is expressed in terms of acreage as 33 acres of good land or its equivalent in larger acreage of land of mixed quality. The whole subject is under review at present and I should like to refer the Deputy to my views as recorded in Vol. 195, Cols. 2217-2226 of the Official Report.
(b) For the economic and proper working of an enlargement, it is desirable that it should be within a reasonable distance of the allottee's residence. Such distance has been accepted as about one mile.