asked the Minister for Lands what procedure is necessary by co-owners of commonage to have such commonage partitioned; and what are the functions and responsibilities of the Land Commission in such schemes.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Partitioning of Commonage.
36.
It is open to interested parties to apply to the Land Commission under the Land Acts for the partition of lands held in common.
The procedure for the partitioning of commonages falls into two main categories, depending on whether all the owners of the commonage are agreed on the partition.
Firstly, if all of the owners wish to have a commonage partitioned, they may submit to the Land Commission a joint application for permission to do so and submit a scheme.
The application, which can be made informally, should embody all the necessary conditions regarding rights of way, erection and maintenance of fences, etc., and should be accompanied by a map of the commonage on which the agreed division and rights-of-way are accurately delineated and lettered. The application and map should be dated and signed by all of the owners in common.
On the other hand, if one or more, but not all, of the owners in common wish to have a commonage partitioned, it is necessary to lodge in the Land Commission an application on Form 131, in accordance with Order IV of the Land Purchase Acts Rules, 1951 (S.I. No. 50 of 1951). A copy of this order, with specimen form appended, may be obtained from the Government Publications Sale Office, GPO Arcade, Dublin 1. The application should be accompanied by copy Land Registry map showing the lands proposed to be partitioned.
The basic authority for partition of commonage is section 24, Land Act, 1939. This provides that, where all the owners in common apply to the Land Commission for leave to partition and submit a scheme, the Land Commission may authorise the partition and confirm the scheme.
It also deals with the position where some of the owners in common apply to the Land Commission for a compulsory partition and provides that the Land Commission, after serving the prescribed notices and making such investigations as they consider necessary, may, if they so think proper, prepare a scheme for the partition. Apart from the partitioning of commonages pursuant to the provisions I have mentioned, the Land Commission are also disposed to undertake the actual division and rearrangement of commonages which are productive or reasonably productive and where the persons involved are the owners of sub-standard holdings which can be significantly improved by dividing the commonage and bringing it into production.
Before proceeding with the next question the Chair wishes to state that the House has spent an hour and 20 minutes on questions and only one third of the questions on the Order Paper have been disposed of. The Chair would ask for the co-operation of Members in trying to get the questions through.