Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 8, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: “(8) Within 6 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas a report of a review into the digitization of the land registry including proposed reforms to expedite land disputes where the title deeds are currently unclear due to issues with historic or digitized records.”.

I know the Minister of State is again going to tell me that because it is not appropriate to put a request for a report into legislation he cannot support the amendment. I understand that. After he tells me that, I would be interested if he or his officials tell me if it would be possible for this new agency to undertake a review of the digitisation process. It is eminently sensible. I am not suggesting it should be done within any immediate timeframe. Given the complexity of the land register - and I deal with the office that administers it all the time and an exceptionally helpful and good service is provided - in many instances it can be 12 or more months out of date because of the slowness of the processes.

The real issue here relates to inaccuracies, anomalies or other ambiguities in the title deeds of properties, which can cause enormous difficulties. Somebody might want to do an extension on their home or get planning permission, or a public agency might want to do construction work on a public building project, and there is a dispute over title. I think it would be a good thing to do. Again, although I am not pressing the amendment, I want to use it as an opportunity to get the Minister of State or the officials to indicate if this is something that could be reviewed post the establishment of the new agency.