Holdings Enlarged
Campaigners are demanding that uneconomic smallholdings be enlarged through the redistribution of extensive grazing land. The United Irish League argues that thousands of rural families remain confined to farms too small or too poor to provide a secure livelihood while nearby grasslands support cattle but comparatively few people. Its organisers want owners and large occupiers to release untenanted land so that neighbouring holdings may be expanded. In County Limerick, where the size and quality of a farm often determine whether a family can remain at home, the proposal will be judged as both an agricultural reform and a defence against emigration.