Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Deputy Flanagan's conjured up images of examiners of title with wet towels around the backs of their necks brought me out in a cold sweat. This Bill is not for the uninitiated. The people in my constituency of Jobstown reflect on very little other than the Statute De Donis Conditionalibus.

The average person will simply want to know if this Bill will speed up and streamline the conveyancing of land and if it will result in reduced costs. Business people, nowadays this includes most farmers, will want to know if the new law will assist the business environment and enhance competitiveness. Many new apartment and homeowners struggling with recent and often oppressive proliferation of management companies will want to know if it offers them better protection or if they are included. Members on all sides of the House welcome the fact that this legislation will make it easier to convey and register land thus reducing delays.

I join my colleagues who have contributed to the debate in acknowledging the role of the former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, in driving this project as a joint initiative between the Department and the Law Reform Commission. It appears that a small number of lawyers and experts in this area deserve our gratitude for a complex task, knowledgeably discharged under the direction of Mrs. Justice Catherine McGuinness and her predecessor, Mr. Justice Declan Budd.

It is true it is not typical for the regularly excellent reports of the Law Reform Commission to come with a ready made text of a draft reform Bill. Given the quality and comprehensiveness of the accompanying explanatory memorandum on this occasion, perhaps the Minister should involve the Law Reform Commission in the drafting process more frequently. In fairness to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the former Minister's legislative style was to never stay still long enough to allow the preparation of an explanatory memorandum.

The Minister, when introducing the Bill, drew heavily on the Law Reform Commission consultation paper. There is little point in my regurgitating some of the more interesting tracts from that report though they are very interesting. However, I should put on record that the Labour Party takes no issue with the sensible guiding principles that underpin the Bill which updates the law to ensure it accords with changes in modern society, promotes simplification of the law and its language to make it more easily understood and accessible, promotes simplification of the conveyancing process, especially the procedures involved and the taking of security over land, and facilitates extension of the registration of title to land and the introduction of an e-conveyancing system as soon as possible.

As stated, the proposed modernisation of our land and conveyancing laws is welcome. Involved in this process is the consignment to history, in whole or in part, of many pre-1922 statutes and their replacement with provisions more suited to modern conditions. The ultimate goal is a comprehensive system of e-conveyancing. I ask the Minister to hazard a guess at how soon implementation of such a system is likely to be realised.

The consultation paper from the Law Reform Commission stated that registration of title was outside the scope of its report because it was dealt with recently by the Registration of Deeds and Title Act 2006. It also states, however: "What is needed primarily is completion of the computerisation programme instituted in recent years and rapid progress on extension of compulsory registration of title so as to achieve the ultimate aim of having all titles throughout the State in the system." The Minister might ask how long that project is likely to take. The layperson finds it very difficult to appreciate why the conveyancing process in the 21st century should be so cumbersome. The layperson, in his or her innocence, might have thought modern technology would greatly assist the process. The lesson from other fields of commerce is that if the process can be made amenable to modern technology surely it can be speeded up and made less expensive.

See this speech in context