asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will indicate the amount of machinery for the land rehabilitation project sold to date by his Department; further, if he will state (1) the price paid, (2) the price realised for such machinery, and (3) what amount of machinery is still held by his Department.

To date, approximately six-sevenths of the land reclamation machinery operated by my Department has been sold or is in process of sale. As to (1) and (2) in the question, I would refer the Deputy to the reply given on 22nd July last to a question by Deputy Sweetman regarding the sale of land reclamation machinery. As to (3) there are still three full units and some miscellaneous items of machinery being operated by my Department.

Can the Minister say what proportion of the machinery that has been sold to contractors is being used for land reclamation work?

All the machinery.