asked the Minister for Lands the names, location, acreage and dates of acquisition of estates currently in the possession of the Land Commission in County Galway; and if he will state when it is intended to allocate these lands, especially those that have been acquired for three years and over.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Galway Estates.
57.
Mr. Kitt
The operations of the Land Commission in County Galway are heavily concentrated and involve numerous small estates and holdings as well as remnants of congested districts board estates, lands surrendered in exchange and small residues of partly allotted properties. The Deputy will appreciate that the extraction of the information he has asked for would entail a disproportionate expenditure of time and work which would not be justified. Moreover, at this time of the year, when allotment activity reaches its peak the position in regard to lands on hands is subject to constant fluctuation depending on progress in intake and allotment and the information sought would be out of date within a short time.
As regards allotment it is not feasible to indicate when all the individual properties on hands in County Galway will be allocated but it may be taken that in all cases the necessary inquiries on the ground preliminary to allotment are being pushed forward as rapidly as circumstances permit.
Mr. Kitt
I notice that the Minister gave a reply to Deputy Crinion in the form of a tabular statement in respect of Meath. It is funny that it cannot be done for Galway. I suspect the reason is that some of those lands have been on hands for up to 15 and 16 years. I will put down another question——
Mr. Kitt
Yes. I am blaming the Land Commission, not the Minister or the Government. The Land Commission have lands on hands for years and years. They are making money setting them every year and they will not divide them. I will put down a further question in a fortnight's or a month's time. Maybe I will get the reply then.
I have some additional information which may save the Deputy the necessity of putting down another question. At 30th November, 1973, the position in regard to lettable lands on hands in County Galway was as follows:
On hand for period stated
|
One Year |
1,467 acres |
|
Two Years |
2,835 acres |
|
Three Years |
1,810 acres |
|
Four Years |
1,143 acres |
|
Five Years |
2,182 acres |
|
Six Years |
658 acres |
|
Seven Years |
185 acres |
|
Eight Years and over |
1,470 acres |
Mr. Kitt
What I was saying is right. I will put down another question in a month's time.
Would the Minister ask the Minister for Lands whether, if he is not given more money in the Estimate, the fact that he is to phase out land bonds as payment for land will shorten the budget for the division of land already held by the Land Commission? This is a very important point. If they are to continue buying land and dividing at the same time they would want to get more money.
I cannot comment on that but I have another item of information here which says that during the last 12 months the Land Commission have been engaged in modernising the system of records relating to acquisition, management and division of land and when completed for all areas it is expected that the type of information asked for will be more readily available and up to date.