asked the Minister for Lands the total number of people who successfully applied for allocation of portions of the Peet Estate, Ballymacelligott, County Kerry, whose total acreage at the time of application was 50 acres or more.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers (Resumed). - Kerry Estate.
83.
The number of such applicants was four.
Is the Minister aware that there was a great deal of dissatisfaction with regard to this holding? We cannot get the Minister to tell us what is an uneconomic holding. People in this locality who already had economic holdings or, at least, what are classified as economic holdings, have been allotted some of the land. Some of these people were quite close to this House.
A policy was laid down as to the number of acres of good land that would make up an economic holding. It is not a question of acreage only but it is a question of the number of acres of good land a person may have. When the acreage is adjusted in each of these cases it will be found that it is very much below the required number of acres which would, in the eyes of the Land Commission, constitute an economic holding.
Is the Minister further aware that some of the people who were given land from this estate submitted a signed petition protesting that they were of the opinion that the division of the land had been unjust and that they were prepared to give back what they got so that the land might be re-divided?
If the Deputy is saying that the people referred to in his question already had economic holdings, that is not true.
I sent a petition to the Secretary of the Department of Lands signed by seven people who were offered land on this holding but the Department were not courteous enough to send me a reply.
The Deputy must be very well aware that the Land Commission are the body who make the divisions and that in practically every case where land is divided there will be people who will be dissatisfied.
It is a question of who you know.
There was a whisper in the Minister's ear.
There was no whisper in anyone's ear. It is the function of the Land Commission to divide land as they see fit.