I put this Bill down for discussion some time ago and its First Reading was opposed by the Government. By virtue of that fact, I was denied the facility available to those promoting Bills after the First Stage has been passed, namely, the facility of circulation. Therefore, the members of the House will not know until now what the Bill contains and, with the permission of the Chair, I propose to read the terms of the Bill. I assume the rules of order permit me to do so. The Bill reads as follows:
BILL
entitled
AN ACT TO PROHIBIT THE CREATION OF GROUND RENTS AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE EXTINCTION OF EXISTING GROUND RENTS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—
1. As and from the date of the passing of this Act it shall not be lawful for any person to create a new ground rent.
2. (1) As and from the date of the passing of this Act any tenant may purchase all rights of his ground rent from his ground landlord by payment of a determined sum, and it shall not be lawful for the ground landlord to refuse to accept such payment.
(2) A ground rent purchased under subsection (1) shall be deemed to have been extinguished.
3. The determined sum referred to in section 2 shall be a sum not greater than fifteen times the amount of the annual ground rent which the tenant is liable for at the date of the passing of this Act.
4. Any amount paid by the tenant in respect of any period of tenancy prior to the passing of this Act shall be taken into account in calculating the sum referred to in section 2.
5. This Act may be cited as the Ground Rents (Prohibition and Extinction) Act, 1961.
The terms of the Bill are, I suppose, in need of some explanation. I understand that, under the rules of procedure, I am entitled to make a statement explaining just what they mean.