asked the Minister for Lands if he is prepared at this stage to further consider the application of a person (name supplied) for portion of the McGarry Estate, Corballis, Rathmoylan.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Meath Estate.
24.
As indicated in reply to the Deputy's previous question on 17th November, 1965, the selection of allottees is a matter that is exclusively reserved to the Commissioners. I am informed that an application by the person mentioned was very fully considered in competition with other applications received but it was not found practicable to provide him with an allotment.
Is the Minister aware that this man has a sizeable portion of this estate rented for the grazing of a dairy herd for many years, that he is married with a wife and seven children to support, and that his stock is being put out on the road and his house is being taken over and sold? This man was eligible for a portion of the land of a man who had already sold a farm in the area. Previously the Land Commission had given the farm to a migrant beside this man who sold it to somebody else and who has gone to live in England. Could the Minister reconsider the whole matter and see that justice is done in the case of this man?
I can only deal with the individual in respect of whom the Deputy has put the question. I have read all the particulars and I know his case was very fully considered by the Land Commission in competition with others. They decided in their wisdom that they could not give him a holding. What the Deputy says is true. This man has been taking substantial lettings from the Land Commission and others. He is a substantial man in this area who has been paying well over £1,500 a year for conacre.
Is the Minister aware that this man has nothing except a dairy herd, and what he gets from it? Does the Minister consider that the Land Commission are acting correctly when they refuse to give an allotment to a man who started from nothing and worked up a herd and are putting him completely out of business? He will have to emigrate with his family, or does the Minister consider that a man of that calibre should be accommodated by the Land Commission?
I agree with the Deputy that he is an excellent man but I am surprised that a man with his resources does not buy the raw material for his job. He is a substantial man; otherwise, he would not be able to operate with the amount of capital with which he is taking land all over the country. He is not without resources and, in my view, should be able to solve his own problem by getting the raw material he requires.
The Minister is being naïve. This man is taking land only on this farm, nowhere else. The Land Commission are taking it over and suing him because he overheld the land. The only capital he has is his stock. Should he sell all his stock in order to buy land somewhere else and then have no stock to start again? This is a case in which the Land Commission, for some extraordinary reason, political or otherwise, are acting in an unreasonable manner.
The latter part of the Deputy's remark is unworthy of him. The Deputy is well aware that politics has nothing whatsoever to do with this matter. My information is that in addition to the land he rented from the Land Commission, he has rented land from several other people as well. From the accounts of his stock and machinery, he has as much as any five small farmers in the west of Ireland. I do not see why we should shed crocodile tears over him.
He is in competition with a migrant who got a farm beside him and who has now gone to England.
I know the Deputy does not like migrants.
Some of those the Minister sends in, anyway.