asked the Minister for Lands the revenue received from the letting of lands acquired from Cooney's, Maghermore, Wicklow, for each of the years 1959 to date; and when he expects that the lands will be allotted.

43.

asked the Minister for Lands the revenue received from the letting of lands acquired in 1956 from Pike's, Oughill, Redcross, County Wicklow, for each of the years 1956 to date; and when he expects that the lands will be allotted.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 43 together.

The Pike estate was acquired in 1958 and the Cooney estate in 1960. Between them they comprise over 600 acres, portion of which will, it is hoped be allotted later this year.

The accounts of the Land Commission are kept in accordance with the requirements under Section 10 (3), Land Act, 1923, and Rule 36 of Land (Finance) Rules, 1925, and they are not made out on a localised basis. For the country as a whole, land settlement transactions are quite numerous; not all items of income and expenditure are readily apportionable according to separate properties as originally acquired. For example, adjacent lands acquired from different owners sometimes have to be amalgamated for convenience of access, water, etc., leading to bulk rentals. Profit and loss accounting by individual estates is quite impracticable. Perhaps the annexed statement—which I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to circulate with the Official Report—for the year 1961/62 in respect of the whole country may be of interest. The appropriated profit of £8,000 for the whole country was quite insignificant by comparison with the total voted from taxation to the Lands Vote for the same year, viz., £2,327,880.

Following is the statement :—

Land Acts, 1923-54.