Mr. Bertie Wall:

It is a kind of legal limbo because the land is lying dormant and nobody has bothered to trace. The first thing that is required is to do a detailed survey of all the commonage to ascertain the figures. This has been done in Scotland and England. Precise figures are available there as to the dormancy level and the absentee level. We do not have those precise figures in Ireland. If we do that we will have a handle on the size of the problem. I am sure the numbers vary from commonage to commonage. If there are no legal heirs, can the State acquire those stakes in a commonage and disperse them similar to the way it was done by the Land Commission?

It is an interesting question.