I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
Deputies may recall that in my opening speech on the Second Reading of the Land Bill, 1963, I drew special attention to section 26, which provided authority for the creation of additional land bonds to a total of £5 million, and I mentioned that it was imperative that some such provision should be enacted if the land reform programme was not to be brought to an abrupt halt through lack of funds. Existing supplies of bonds are now expected to run out in the Autumn.
As the Taoiseach has already stated in the House, it will not be possible to deal with the whole Land Bill in this session and so it has been decided to segregate the Land Bond provision and make a special one-section Bill of it.
Since that decision was taken, however, I have given further consideration to the steady rise in the price of land and also to the very lively tempo of the Land Commission's current work in the field of land acquisition and I have come to the conclusion that £5 million is not an adequate increase in the financial supply. Accordingly I now propose to provide for an increase of £10 million over all. This should keep the Land Commission supplied for a reasonably long period during which I expect to see them make a very big impact on the remaining congestion in the country.
Save for this change in the money limit and some textual adjustments this Bill follows precisely section 26 of the Land Bill which, of course, will be deleted when we reach it.
Land bonds finance on a substantial scale is vital to our land reform programme. I trust, therefore, that the House will agree to the immediate passage of this Bill so that the Land Commission's planned acquisition target for the immediate future can be achieved and the completion of pending voluntary purchase dealings finalised.
