asked the Minister for Justice whether he intends to introduce legislation to abolish ground rents.
Written Answers. - Ground Rents.
259.
If what the Deputy has in mind is the abolition, without compensation for ground landlords, of the contractual obligation to pay ground rent, the answer to his Question is, as I have made clear on numerous occasions already, that the Government have no proposals for the introduction of such legislation.
If, on the other hand, his Question is intended to imply that the Government's commitment in relation to legislation on ground rents has not been honoured, I reject any such implication.
The Government's commitment was to provide a scheme which would lead to the abolition of existing residential ground rents. That has been done. In the first place, the creation of new ground rents on dwellinghouses has been made impossible by the provisions of the landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act, 1978. In the second place, persons who are already liable to pay ground rents on residential property are enabled to abolish those ground rents by purchase, at virtually no cost to themselves apart from the purchase price, under the Land Registry purchase scheme that has been provided by the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No.2) Act, 1978.
263.
asked the Minister for Justice the number in each year for which statistics are available of legitimations i.e. adoptions by natural parents of illegitimate children.
Adoption does not legitimate the child.