asked the Minister for Lands whether, in view of his statement in reply to my question in the Dáil on 3rd December last that it is not possible to provide economic holdings on the adjacent mainland for the islanders of Inishark, he will recommend to the Land Commission the desirability of undertaking a scheme for migrating them inland and providing them with economic holdings in suitable areas where land is available.

The proposal outlined by the Deputy has been examined and is one which I am not prepared to recommend to the Land Commission.

Migrants to non-congested inland areas are selected largely because their old holdings are of special value in assisting the rearrangement and enlargement of their neighbours' holdings in acutely congested areas. The old holdings of Inishark migrants would have no such value and their migration would mean the complete evacuation of the island.