John Perry
Ceist:82 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the number of non-nationals who have purchased land here since Ireland joined the European Community in 1973. [6348/00]
Written Answers. - Land Purchases.
My Department has no information on the actual purchase of land by non-nationals.
However, statistics are available for the number of non-qualified persons who applied for consent to purchase agricultural land under section 45 of the Land Act, 1965, in each year since 1989. Although the term qualified person is sometimes assumed to refer only to Irish nationals, there are other categories of qualified persons. Statutory Instrument 56 of 1995 broadened the term qualified person to include, among other categories, persons whose principal residence is in an EU member state and corporate bodies incorporated in an EU member state.
The number of consents issued to non-qualified persons over the years 1989 to 1999 was as follows:
|
Year |
1989 |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
|
No. of non-qualified individuals |
255 |
286 |
269 |
260 |
280 |
230 |
104 |
50 |
62 |
54 |
45 |
|
No. of non-qualified non-national companies |
31 |
54 |
76 |
120 |
76 |
52 |
12 |
21 |
26 |
50 |
60 |
|
No. of non-qualified Irish companies* |
343 |
347 |
233 |
275 |
241 |
264 |
84 |
23 |
18 |
22 |
4 |
*Irish companies were not covered by the definition "qualified person" prior to 1995. The numbers for this category from 1996 onwards are for retrospective consents.