I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. This is another of those very technical Bills and, as Deputy Aiken will know, it is one that has been under consideration for a very long time indeed. I think that almost every Minister for Finance has had a finger in the pie, in the production of this Bill.
The main purpose of the Bill is to make provision, as contemplated by Articles 10.3 and 10.4 of the Constitution, for the management of and the control of the alienation of certain State lands. Deputies will have seen that there is a fairly full memorandum circulated with the Bill and they will have an opportunity from that of getting the details of the Bill before them. Therefore, I want to deal only with a few rather general matters.
Article 11 of the Constitution of 1922 provided, in relation to lands which were State lands immediately prior to the 6th December, 1922, that they should be
"controlled and administered by the Oireachtas, in accordance with such regulations and provisions as shall be from time to time approved by legislation"
and that they might be granted by way of lease or licence for terms not exceeding 99 years, to be worked or enjoyed under the authority and subject to the control of the Oireachtas. This article was implemented by the State Lands Act, 1924, the State Lands (Workhouses) Act, 1930, the Prisons Act, 1933, and the Foreshore Act, 1933, and all these Acts are still in force.
Article 10 of the present Constitution prescribes, inter alia, that provision may be made by law for the management of lands which were State lands immediately before the coming into operation of the Constitution and lands acquired thereafter and for the control of the alienation, whether temporary or permanent, of such lands. No mention is made of control by the Oireachtas or of restriction of alienations to terms not exceeding 99 years.
The State Lands Act, 1924, applies only to land which by virtue of Article 11 of the Constitution of 1922 belonged to Saorstát Éireann. The administration of those lands has, however, been hampered in several respects by certain restrictive provisions of that Act. One provision is that particulars of proposed leases and licences must be laid before each House of the Oireachtas for a period which involves a delay of at least four weeks before formal effect can be given to them. One effect of this is, for example, that at present unimportant grazing lettings on the eleven months' system, weekly or monthly tenancies and occupations of State premises by State servants for official purposes, have to be held up for a period of perhaps four weeks for the purpose of being laid before the House under the 1924 Act. Small lettings of that sort clearly should not be held up in that way.
The second difficulty was that the Act permits only of alienations for terms not exceeding 99 years, and it empowers the Minister for Finance to make the necessary leases and licences and requires him to make these by deeds under his official seal. It is obviously desirable to extend that.
The third objection is that the Act did not permit of lettings involving removals of sand, gravel, stone or clay. The fourth objection is that it did not permit of the sale or surrender of lands and premises no longer required for State purposes. There have been many cases over the years where that restriction has caused some anxiety and some difficulty.
Article 10 of the present Constitution enables the difficulties of administration which I have enumerated to be removed and also enables the making of legislative provision for the management of lands acquired by the State since 1922. It is accordingly proposed to repeal the State Lands Act, 1924, and to enact more suitable and more comprehensive provisions to govern the vesting in State authorities, that is to say, Ministers of State and the Commissioners of Public Works, of State land not already so vested, for example, former Crown, Admiralty and R.I.C. lands, or doubtfully vested and the transfer of State land by one State authority to another. These matters are provided for in the Bill which also empowers State authorities in relation to State land, other than certain lands specified in the First Schedule to the Bill, to make sales, exchanges, grants, surrenders, leases and licences. Leases and licences may be for any terms, grants may be gratuitous, dedications for use by the public may be made and the public may be permitted to use such land subject to by-laws. State authorities may waive and release covenants in leases and may waive and release rents and arrears of rents. These powers of State authorities are to be exercisable only with the consent, either general or particular, of the Minister for Finance. Control by the Houses of the Oireachtas similar to the control prescribed in the State Lands Act, 1924, is not proposed. Instead, it is provided in Section 10 (6) of the Bill that half-yearly reports, giving particulars of sales, exchanges, grants and leases, other than leases for terms not exceeding 21 years, should be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. Similar provisions have been made in legislation passed since 1924, dealing with alienations of minerals, foreshore and fisheries.
Apart from the main provisions of the Bill to which I have referred, the Bill also provides for a variety of other matters the more important of which are outlined in the opening paragraph of the Explanatory Memorandum and all of which are explained in some detail in the body of the memorandum. It is hardly necessary for me at this stage to supplement the information contained in the memorandum on these miscellaneous provisions but if any Deputy desires additional information on any point of general principle affecting these matters, I shall be only too glad to give it.
