Vol. 454 No. 6
192 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason requests for division of commonages are not proceeding in view of the judgement in the Glenamadoo and Bunahowna High Court case and the determination of the planning appeal. [11347/95]
Following the challenge in the High Court to the division of commonage lands at Glenamadoo and Bunahowna, work on the compulsory division of commonage lands was suspended. However, work on voluntary division of commonage, that is where all of the shareholders agree to division, is not affected and is progressing at a satisfactory rate. In this regard it is worth noting that between 1983 and 1992 only 54 of the 417 applications for commonage division have been for compulsory division.
In 1992 in the Glenamadoo and Bunahowna case the judicial commissioner directed that certain matters, including the question of compliance with planning legislation, should be clarified before the case was returned to the High Court. The matter was referred to An Bord Pleanála, and its decision, which was delivered in 1993, was appealed to the High Court. The result of this appeal must be considered by the judicial commissioner before the original appeal is resolved. This is the first time that the legislation used in the compulsory division of commonages has been referred to the judicial commissioner and I propose to have the policy and procedures used in these cases reassessed in the light of the judgement of the court. Pending receipt of the final judgment of the Judicial Commissioner action on compulsory division of commonage lands must remain suspended.
