Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Bill was amended subsequent to the article to which the Deputy refers which first raised this matter. Section 13 prohibits the future creation of a fee tail estate. Any future attempt to do so would create a fee simple instead. Going back to our time in college, it is good to see this procedure prohibited because it caused many law students difficulty when slaving over property law.

Section 13(3) goes on to convert existing fee tails into fee simples. Under a 19th century statute it already is possible, under certain conditions, to bar the entail, that is, to terminate a fee tail estate. One such condition is that the permission of the protector of the entail is given. This condition is carried over into section 13(3), which will ensure interference with any existing interest in the land is avoided. Since the provisions in section 13 will continue to protect any existing interest in the land, I do not discern a need for the provisions proposed by Deputy Tuffy.

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