asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware that the River Suir from Loughmore to Thurles has for a number of years past flooded thousands of acres of the best and richest lands of Tipperary, thus rendering it unfit for use; that there are a large number of persons unemployed in the towns of Thurles and Templemore and in the rural areas adjoining whose services could be usefully employed in draining those lands and if, in view of these circumstances, he will sanction a scheme for the draining of this part of the River Suir.

Improvement works under the Arterial Drainage Act, 1945, on the river between Loughmore and Thurles would be carried out only as part of a comprehensive scheme for the River Suir catchment as a whole. I cannot say when that scheme can be reached in the arterial drainage programme.