asked the Minister for Lands when the land annuities in respect of holdings in County Meath held under the Ashbourne Act, 1885, will cease to be payable.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Meath Land Annuities.
24.
The period of repayment of advances made to tenants for the purchase of their holdings under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Acts, 1881-1889 was fixed in the first instance at 49 years from the date of the advance. The provision for decadal revision of these annuities introduced by section 25 of the Land Act, 1896, had the effect of extending the period of repayment and, where the maximum of three such revisions was sought by landowners, as happened in the great majority of cases, the term of repayment became 79 years from the date of the advance, that is to say, 49 years from the date of the last decadal revision.
In any particular case the period of repayment may also be affected by a number of factors such as, (1) consolidation of the annuity with another annuity, (2) addition of funding annuities under the Land Act, 1933, and, (3) the charging of an additional annuity in repayment of an improvement or reclamation advance.
Annuities to which decadal revisions were not applied—a very small proportion of the whole—and in which none of the factors just referred to was introduced have already expired.
Of approximately 400 annuities for the purchase of holdings under the 1881-1889 Acts in County Meath, some 30 have expired to date and it is expected that the bulk of the remainder will have expired by 1970.