asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state in respect of County Cavan (a) the number of men employed under Section B of the Land Project for each year since 1955 and (b) the amount of wages paid in each year.

The desired information in so far as direct employment by the Department is concerned is as follows:—

If the work being done is satisfactory in character, how does the Minister reconcile the decision to throw all these men into unemployment with the Taoiseach's——

That is an entirely separate question.

Surely not, Sir.

It does not arise out of Question No. 48; all that is asked is the number of men employed each year and the wages paid.

These men have all been sacked. Is it expedient to sack them when the Taoiseach's primary concern is to increase employment?

That is an entirely separate matter.

49.

asked the Minister for Agriculture how many applications in respect of County Cavan have been received in his Department to have work done under Section B of the Land Reclamation Scheme in each year from 1955 to 1958; and what acreage has been reclaimed each year.

As to the first part of the question, the particulars asked for are as follows:—

The approximate acreage on which reclamation work was completed each year was as follows:—

Can the Minister state how he can reconcile the figures he has just given with the figures issued by his Department on the 18th November, 1958, where the number of applicants from County Cavan was 613, where the number where work had been completed or was in the course of completion was 356 cases with a total acreage of 8,036.

If the Deputy reads those particulars carefully he will see they apply to the whole period from the inception of the scheme.

Do these not apply from the inception of the scheme?

No, only to certain years.

In that case the Minister is suggesting that the part is greater than the whole. If this only refers to certain schemes and there are 8,000 acres here, how does the total the Minister read out——

The quarterly returns to which the Deputy is referring are composed as far as I am aware of figures that are over the entire period 1949 to 1958. Unless you look at the figures very carefully and even after that, they are capable of being misunderstood. However, there is nothing inconsistent in the figures I have given in reply to this question and in the returns that are made quarterly.

We will analyse them so.

50.

asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state whether all the 393 applicants in County Cavan for whom plans under Section B of the Land Project were ready on the 18th November, 1958, will have the work carried out before the scheme is terminated; and, if not, how many will be rejected.

All of these cases have been, or will be, carried out, apart from 19 cases which had to be dropped because the applicants decided not to go ahead with the work, or the estimates were over the maximum figure of £60 per acre, or because of legal difficulties in regard to rights-of-way, etc.