With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 47 together.
The terms under which land bonds are issued in payment of the purchase price of lands acquired by the Land Commission are laid down in the Land Bond Act, 1934, the Land Act, 1953, and the various Land Bond Orders thereunder.
Bonds are guaranteed by the State as to payment of interest and ultimate redemption at par but such guarantee does not extend to day-to-day prices on the stock exchange and the Land Commission have no power to compensate owners for losses through fluctuation in the stock market.
Land bonds created by the Land Bond Order, 1969, bear interest at the rate of 8 per cent per annum. Under section 26, Land Act, 1965, owners whose prices have been agreed in land bonds but whose lands have not yet vested in the Land Commission are eligible for payment in these bonds.