William Frederick Bailey

“ The Land Commission was empowered to advance the entire purchase money subject to the retention of one-fifth by way of guarantee deposit for a period of about seventeen and a-half years, by which time an equivalent amount of the capital advanced had been repaid by means of the sinking fund. The deposit could be utilised if the tenant purchaser made default in his repayment, and if the landlord vendor was made a guarantor for the repayment of the annuity by the tenant purchaser. ”

“ Under the Irish Church Act of 1869 for the first time State funds were given to help tenants to purchase their holdings, but this was not a Land Purchase Act, and its benefits were confined to a limited class.
Under this Act the Church Temporalities Commissioners were empowered to sell to tenants of Church Lands their holdings at prices to be fixed by the Commissioners themselves. If the tenants refused to buy on the terms offered to them, the Commissioners could sell to the public. ”

“ The capitalised value of the Guarantee Fund on the thirty times basis is at present £86,114,190, but owing to increases beyond this thirty times limit which have been sanctioned by the Treasury in certain counties the present capitalised value of the Fund stands at £127,810,390. ”