I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. This is really a very simple measure. It sets out to do something with which I am sure Deputies on all sides of the House will agree. At the moment there are thousands of parcels of land required for housing that have not been paid for and there are very many of these that will never be paid for. This Bill is an effort to enable payment to be made for these plots, also for plots that were acquired in the past and for which payment has not yet been made.
Money was lodged in court years and years ago in respect of parcels of land acquired for housing which was never passed on to the person from whom the land was acquired. I am informed on reliable authority that some of that money was there so long that it was appropriated by the Government after a certain period. I do not know whether the statute of limitations applies in this case but I know a number of cases in County Cork where land was acquired over 30 years ago, the money lodged in court and that money was never paid to the person from whom the land was taken. I doubt if there is a record in the offices of the local authority about that money. At any rate, I am informed on reliable authority that some of that money was appropriated by the Government after a certain period.
We have a system in this country whereby we make compulsory purchase orders. A local authority may make a compulsory purchase order which gives it full and complete title to the land which they take from the land owner. There is no obligation on the local authority to find out who has the proper title of that land before making the compulsory purchase order. You can have a person who is a holder of the land, who is liable for rates and who can get his rate demand, his six days' notice, his civil bill as an owner or occupier of a certain holding but that is not good enough for the local authority when they want to pay for land they compulsorily acquire.
You have land held by vested tenants and the Land Commission and it is quite all right for the Land Commission to have a registered owner of that land registered in the Land Commission. It is quite all right for the Land Commission to serve six day notices on the occupier of that land for the annuities. It is quite all right for the Land Commission to demand and receive their annuities on that land because the person is the registered occupier in the Land Commission's register. But when it comes to the question of paying for land compulsorily acquired by a local authority none of these things seems to apply. The local authority does not even have to serve the notice on the owner.
The local authority makes a compulsory purchase order and enters into a field and it does not matter what is in the field. I know of cases where the county council entered a field in which beet was growing and pulled up the beet and started their building scheme. The person has not been paid for that plot yet. It creates great difficulty for members of local authorities when they are going round trying to get further housing schemes.
We go to a certain man. Let us call him Pat Murphy, and we ask Pat Murphy for a site for six houses, a site for a cottage or an acre of ground for a labourer's cottage. The first thing Pat Murphy will say is: "What about the plot of land you took from me in 1948?" or "What about the plot of land you took from me in 1923? I have not been paid for that yet. The land was taken from me when you came to me in 1948 or 1923. I was as accommodating as I could possibly be. I gave you the acre of my farm because I believed in housing the people. I believed that if they asked only half an acre or an acre of land they would want the best ground they could get. I accommodated you in every way possible but I have not been paid for that and now you are here to-day, again asking me for another acre or two for a housing scheme."
This whole system is impeding the housing schemes that local authorities want to develop. I believe that if the principle set out in this Bill is accepted by the Government and the House—I am sure that all Deputies will agree with it—it will make it easier to find housing sites and eventually to house the people of the country who require houses and whom the local authority wish to house as quickly and as well as they possibly can.
The first section of this Bill seeks to extend a value that was laid down in 1906. In the 1906 Labourers Act it was provided that payment for cottage plots could be made without the discharge of equities provided the sum did not exceed £60. In the second section of this Bill I seek to increase that. I mentioned the figure of £500, but if £500 is too high a figure in the opinion of the House I am quite prepared to alter it. There is no doubt that if £60 was a fair and reasonable figure to pay for the land for housing in 1906, the value of the £ has changed since and there should be some change in the amount set out in the Act of 1906. Last December I asked the Taoiseach to give the relative values of the £ sterling in 1906 and in 1953 and the following is the Taoiseach's answer:—
"No official series of price index numbers are available on the basis of which it would be possible to compare the present purchasing power of the £ in this country with its purchasing power in 1906. However, using various sets of unofficial index numbers of retail, wholesale and agricultural prices, it is estimated roughly that £1 at present would purchase the same quantum of goods as 5/- in 1906."
If the £ would purchase 5/- worth of goods now as against 1906, I think there is a reasonable case to be made for increasing that figure to some extent, possibly not to £500 but probably to £250.
The other section asks that the registered holder of land should be entitled to payment. The registered holder is liable for rates and for annuities and he is liable to be sued if he defaults in any of these payments. I believe that in case of doubt and where there is a danger that a person may not be paid at all the registered owner should be paid where there is not another feasible means of ascertaining the owner or where it is not possible to discharge equities easily.