Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

——but I assure him that the people of Dublin South-Central would not have any such qualms or reservations about heading down to the country. They would be very familiar and comfortable with it.

The Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act of 1992 abolished the Land Commission and transferred its property and powers to the Minister for Agriculture and Food. One section refers to moneys owed by the Department. I would like the Minister to consider whether it is appropriate to refer to her Department rather than her office. That is a technical point and one I will raise again on Committee Stage.

The Bill seeks to regularise technical inaccuracies and omissions in the 1992 Act. That is welcome and points to the extremely technical and complex nature of this area. I will table amendments on Committee Stage that seek to avoid the same pitfalls as those in the 2004 Bill. I look forward to addressing those on Committee Stage.

I welcome any provisions that will reduce the level of bureaucracy for farmers and indeed the officials who have to manage the bureaucratic system. Farmers are already burdened with enough bureaucracy and anything we can do to lighten that load is to be welcomed. The final outcome is that farmers who have land purchase annuities will finally have ownership of their own land with all the benefits full ownership entails.

In broad terms I welcome the Bill and look forward to addressing on Committee Stage some of the specific points I raised.

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