asked the Minister for Lands the estimated total acreage of submarginal lands in the country.

I regret that the information requested by the Deputy is not available in my Department. All I can say is that of the 96,000 acres approximately on hands of the Land Commission some 17,000 acres are classed as non-lettable.

Would the Minister have any indication at all of the amount of submarginal land in the country?

There is not information available. The only information available is in respect of the 96,000 acres in the hands of my Department and of that lot 17,000 are indicated as non-lettable but the information generally is not available.

Would the Minister accept that having regard to the new importance of and the value attaching now to submarginal land it would be a useful figure to have?

It probably would. It would be a very big job to get it.

Anything worthwhile is worth doing.

Yes, we will look at it certainly but it is a very big job.