asked the Minister for Agriculture if procedures have been formulated by the Land Commission for the compulsory division of commonage.

The Land Commission observe the following procedure where one or more but not all of the co-owners make application for the division of a commonage:

(1) The Land Commission serves notice of the receipt of the application on those co-owners who have not joined in the application.

(2) Following investigation a scheme of partition is prepared by the Land Commission in co-operation with the co-owners.

(3) A copy of the scheme is served on each co-owner who is given a month in which objections may be lodged.

(4) Any objections are heard by the Land Commissioners but there is a right of appeal to the Appeal Tribunal, whose decision is final except on a question of law.

(5) Where there are no objections or where the objections have been disposed of a partitioning order is made by the Land Commission and served on the parties.

How many such schemes are in the Department at present?

I am invoking legislation enacted in 1939 which has never been touched until now. We have taken out a number of applications and we are using them to test the legislation. Some cases are almost concluded while others are just beginning. This is a difficult road, particularly since part of this legislation has not been tested before.

How many schemes are with the Department?

While I do not have the information to hand, I think there are ten or 12 groups; three or four are at an advanced stage and two are at a very advanced stage——

Is it true that there is money available under the western package for this type of work?

Finance has been readily available for the division of commonages under the western scheme for a long time and there are a number of groups around the country taking it up. I am speaking specifically of cases where persons do not co-operate with each other and this is the first time it has been tackled in this way.

Will all these schemes be dealt with before the Land Commission is abolished?

This will obviously be part and parcel of the new land policy.

Arising from the criteria given by the Minister, can he tell us the number of commonages about which notices have been served throughout County Galway and the country? Will he accept that under the 1939 legislation he has bona fide law to implement the partitioning of commonages if he wishes to go ahead with it, particularly in the west, where in many cases there are only one or two objectors?

The first part of the Deputy's supplementary is a separate question.

It applies to the criteria.

No, it dealt with numbers.

Obviously I cannot give the Deputy the exact number, but we started with four and we are at an advanced stage with two——

Have notices been served on four occasions?

Yes.

Are they in County Galway?

No, spread over two or three counties.

How many in County Galway?

One, if not two.

Is it one or two?

That question was not asked.

I asked it.

It is not on the Order Paper.

This legislation was enacted in 1939 and nobody thought it worth their while to try to invoke it. The Deputy asked if there were one or two or three cases, but I am telling the House that we are making test cases out of a number——

Nobody promised to do as much about this over such a long period as the Minister and yet he has done nothing.

I am delighted to say that I am the first Minister who ever tried——

——and abolished the Land Commission.

The Land Commission was there for a very long time but no Government touched on this. As regards the last point raised by the Deputy, I think it is consititutional and will stand up in a court of law.

The Minister will be remembered for getting rid of the Land Commission.