asked the Minister for Agriculture why freezing orders under the Land Act are not put on all farms that are reported to the Land Commission as being for sale and that are required for the relief of local congestion.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Act Orders.
4.
While a notice under section 40 of the Land Act, 1923, as amended by section 29 of the Land Act, 1965, has the effect of prohibiting the sale, transfer, letting, subletting or subdivision of the holding concerned for a certain specified period, the main reason for the service of the notice is to afford the Land Commission an opportunity of inspecting the lands to ascertain their suitability for the purposes of the Land Acts.
By virtue of an order made under section 27 of the Land Act, 1965, the determination of the lands to be inspected has been delegated to officers of the Land Commission not below the rank of senior inspector. In deciding whether an inspection is called for in any particular case the inspector will, of course, have the benefit through his own local knowledge of the general conditions and the land requirements in the district.
I would remind the Deputy that the fact that a holding is sold does not in any way prejudice the power of the Land Commission to carry out an inspection subsequently or to institute acquisition proceedings.
The reply is correct, but the Parliamentary Secretary is surely aware that if a holding is sold privately you have to go after the new owner. Unless the order is put on and unless the holding is inspected before it is sold, it is twice as difficult to take it from the new owner. You have to take him to the High Court for possession. I asked for orders to be put on a few holding of land. Some of them were put on since the question went down, some of them have not yet been put on and some of the lands were sold. The Parliamentary Secretary says that the Land Commission know. They do not know everything——
I shall have to insist on more precise questions and dissuade the Deputy from making statements and repeating himself.
I do not want to disobey your ruling but I hear so many statements being made here for 20 minutes on questions. This is of vital importance——
The Deputy will have to conform to the rules of Question Time.
Does the Parliamentary Secretary know that there is a large number of sales of small pieces of land at the moment? This is mainly because people with small businesses and probably little off-farm employment are afraid that they will be taxed on the bit of land. They think that the price is good now, even though we hear it is not, and they are trying to sell the land. We want the Land Commission to be in a position to put on the order——
Order. Brevity, please.
I know there are private sales of land. Such transactions, I understand, take place regularly. However as indicated in my reply, there is nothing to preclude the Land Commission stepping in when they ascertain the sale has taken place and taking the necessary proceedings for the acquisition of such parcels of land where they deem it necessary to acquire them.
Surely the Parliamentary Secretary knows that, unless the order is issued before the land is sold, it is after the new owner you must go. If the order is not put on the land and the land is not inspected before it is sold, the seller is out then and you must go after the new buyer.
We do just that. The whole purpose behind the system is to ensure that the land is not sold to people who should not have it, such as bargain land farmers.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary telling me that there is no slow-up in putting on these orders?
I am.
5.
asked the Minister for Agriculture if the Land Commission will put a section 40 order on the Danaher lands, Inchcooley, Monasterevan, County Kildare, which was recently put up for sale.
The Land Commission are having certain inquiries made in the matter and pending the completion of these inquiries it is not possible to say what action, if any, will be taken.