I call the attention first of Deputies to the fact that Part III of this Act is entitled "The leasing of State mines and minerals," whereas Part IV deals with "The grant of rights in non-State mines and minerals." The headings of these two sections of the Bill show the two main divisions of the clauses. The Bill is necessitated on account of the provisions of Article 11 of the Constitution. Part III deals with the difficulties that have been encountered in connection with Article 11 of the Constitution. Portion of Article 11 reads: "All the lands and waters, mines and minerals, within the territory of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Eireann) hitherto vested in the State, or any department thereof, or held for the public use or benefit" ... and a variety of other things shall "belong to the Irish Free State" ...
"And shall be controlled and administered by the Oireachtas, in accordance with such regulations and provisions as shall be from time to time approved by legislation." The Article goes on to state "... the same shall not, nor shall any part thereof, be alienated, but may in the public interest be from time to time granted by way of lease or licence to be worked or enjoyed under the authority and subject to the control of the Oireachtas."
That Article would include such mines and minerals as come into the State possession under or through the agency of the Irish Land Commission by reason of land purchase under many of the Acts, and also would include any mines of gold and silver. Part III of this Bill also deals with those things which have been declared to be mines and minerals in the possession of the State. The Bill gives the legislation which is required by the Article; the legislation under which a lease may be granted, and this State property enjoyed and worked under the control and subject to the authority of the Oireachtas.
Section 10 of Part III is the operative section as far as these State mines and minerals are concerned. Section 10 enacts:—
"If in the opinion of the Minister it is in the public interest that any State mines and minerals or any exclusive State mining right should be granted by way of lease to any person, the Minister may, under and in accordance with this Part of this Act, demise such State mines and minerals or exclusive State mining right to such person by way of lease for such term not exceeding ninety-nine years as the Minister shall think proper."
Under Section 4 of the Bill by definition State mines and minerals are extended for the purpose of Section 10 to mean not only such mines and minerals as were in the possession of the State at the passing of the Constitution, but any that have since come into its possession. Correspondingly, Clause B of sub-section (1) of Section 2 takes away from the Land Commission the power it had of disposing of any mines and minerals it had possession of, a right which incidentally has been in abeyance since the passing of the Constitution because such disposal was prohibited until legislation was passed allowing the disposal of these rights. Section 12 dealing with State property is extended by Section 4. Section 12 gives the Minister also power to enter upon such lands for the purpose of experimenting, to make such experiments (including borings) as in his opinion appear necessary or desirable. Section 13 indicates, "wherever any damage has been done by entry to State lands or by any of the operations stated in Section 13 the person exercising such right, including the Minister, in an exclusive State right of mining or by searching for and taking State mines and minerals must pay compensation." The compensation terms are set out in Part 7 of the Bill. Clause 38 is the directing section. "The amount of compensation under this Act shall, in default of agreement, be determined by the Board in the manner provided by this Part of this Act."
There are two section I should advert to in connection with payment of compensation. Section 40, sub-section (5) states :—"Where any award in relation to land for the time being subject to a land purchase annuity provides for the payment of any moneys to the Irish Land Commission, upon payment thereof to the Irish Land Commission such moneys shall be applied by the Irish Land Commission as they think fit in discharge of the arrears (if any) of such annuity and towards the redemption of such annuity or in either of the said ways."
Another section indicates that where compensation is awarded, and where the Land Commission annuity is payable, some portion of the compensation may be used to redeem portion of the land annuity. The basis of the consideration for that is that as the damage done to the lands may to some degree weaken the security, therefore, the annuity to that extent should be redeemed. Section 14 is also in connection with the compensation side of this measure. I now direct attention mainly to lines 5 to 12 on page 8. Under the old Land Purchase Acts, where property passed from the owner, and where the mineral rights were reserved to the Land Commission, if afterwards the Land Commission sold these, the law was that 25 per cent, of the rents and royalties received had to be paid to the owner. Later legislation, such as the Land Act of 1903, determined that where land passed and where mineral rights were reserved, that the owner should get such rights as the Oireachtas would determine. We propose to determine in sub-section (1) of Section 14 that an equivalent 25 per cent. be paid in relation to the rent or royalties derived from the sale of minerals from land that passed under the 1903 Act.