asked the Minister for Lands the changes he has in mind in regard to the law governing Irish land buying and land tenure to conform with the EEC rules regarding freedom of establishment and free movement of capital; and whether he will consider putting curbs on foreign speculative capital being invested in Irish land because of the effect this has on rising land prices to levels which the majority of farmers anxious to enlarge their holdings find impossible to achieve.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Policy.
13.
I have dealt with the position about freedom of establishment on land in the EEC context on many occasions, the latest being last Tuesday week during the course of my opening statement on the Lands Vote for the current year. I said then that to date only a very limited measure of freedom of establishment on land embodied in five existing directives is operative in the EEC and such will not pose any serious problem for this country. Regulations under section 45, Land Act, 1965, are at present being drafted which will have the effect of bringing these directives into operation here as from January, 1973.
I said too, that the draft directive providing for full freedom of establishment on land which has been with the EEC Council of Ministers since January, 1969, will not be adopted before our accession. After accession, of course, we will be in the position, as one of the member states of the Community, of having a full voice through our representative on the Council of Ministers and he can be relied upon to ensure that our special interests are taken fully into account.
At all stages of the negotiations for entry we have indicated quite clearly to the existing EEC countries our very serious concern about the possible extension of the right of establishment on land and stressed the need to maintain sufficient control over the disposal of land to enable us to pursue policies to deal with our serious structural reform problem. After our accession the existing control of non-national land purchases—except for the five directives mentioned—will remain in full force until such time as the EEC move on the draft directive before them since January, 1969.
Has the Minister any contingency plan in his Department to deal with the situation which would arise if the EEC Council were to adopt a draft directive which would allow complete freedom of establishment in land? Has he any contingency plan to curb the speculative buying of agricultural land?
We have put a good deal of thought into this. Our basic posture is that it is a matter of vital national interest and therefore one in which once we would be in the EEC would be regarded as a veto situation for us. We have contingency arrangements also.
The Minister said it would be a veto situation but surely this is an issue on which a veto could not be used?
As the Deputy knows, to talk about a veto situation is really a misnomer. I am merely saying that our posture has always been, and will continue to be, that this is a matter of vital national interest to us because of our peculiar situation, and it would be basically inimical to our interests for the directive to be adopted.
Is it not the case that the principle enshrined in the Treaty of Rome in relation to right of establishment must be exercised in the context of the objective of a common agricultural policy? We could argue, in using our veto, that we were doing so to ensure that the objective of a common agricultural policy was applied here.
They would not believe us.
Deputy Bruton has made a fair assessment of the position.
We could deal with that problem?
Yes.