asked the Minister for Lands if he will state the circumstances in which the Land Commission demand from the recipient thereof or his personal representative repayment of grants originally described as free grants made for the erection of dwellinghouses and out-offices.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Grants for Dwellinghouses.
Cases in which the Land Commission apply for repayment in whole or part of money which they have given by way of free grant to parties to enable them to erect dwellinghouses or out-offices are very rare.
Where an allottee of a parcel of untenanted land (or his personal representative) applies to the Land Commission for permission to sell his parcel, consent to the sale may be made conditional on the repayment to the Land Commission of the whole or part of any building assistance made to the allottee by way of free grant. Presumably it is cases of this kind the Deputy has in mind.
May I ask the Minister what is the reason for that? If a grant was made for the erection of a dwelling-house, and the land is put up for sale, and the purchaser is going to live in the dwelling-house, why should the amount of the free grant be made repayable to the Land Commission? The house was going to be occupied in both instances.
I think if some such regulation were not made, and if the Land Commission did not insist as far as possible on repayment of such grants in the case of sales, the whole purpose of the Land Commission policy on the division of land would be defeated. There has been what amounts almost to a racket in attempts by people who have been allotted portions of land by the Land Commission to cash in on the present high price of land by trying to get rid of their allotments. I do not think it is reasonable that the Land Commission should be expected to permit the State to suffer the loss of those free grants when permission is given to sell the land.
The Minister has not answered what I asked him. If the land is put up for sale and is purchased by a bona fide purchaser who intends to live in the house, why should the Land Commission demand payment of what was originally called a free grant?
I think the sooner we get over the idea that the Land Commission should be a fairy godmother to everybody the better for this country.
That was not the question. Is not the Minister aware that, if it was registered land, the Land Commission's consent would not be required, and that in that case the Land Commission could not demand back the alleged free grant? I would ask the Minister is he ready to bring in a regulation that, wherever there is a sale of land to a bona fide purchaser who is going to live in the dwelling-house, the so-called free grant will not be demanded back?
Not at all.