Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back to the House, as other Deputies have done, and wish her and her family well in the years to come.

This is an important and urgent Bill and I support it in its intention to remove the current statutory deadline of 30 November 2021 by which to register easements without the need to go to court. The potential impact of not extending this deadline is very worrying and could see those who currently have rights over State land being deprived of those rights or at least having no means of registering them if an application is not made before 1 December 2021. This legislation is badly needed and is essential for farmers as well as those in rural communities such as Donegal.

The 2009 Act introduced a requirement for a prescriptive right to be verified by a court order as well as being registered with the Property Registration Authority, PRAI. In 2011, however, an amendment was made that allowed the claimant to apply to the Property Registration Authority to validate and register his or her right based on long use provided that the prescriptive right was not contested by the owner of the land affected by it. This provided a much simpler process and made it far easier for people to register easements. It proved to be a much better system than the previous one and we should continue to allow the PRAI to validate as well as register rights to allow for a simpler, cheaper and more effective process.

If we were to keep this deadline in place, we would face an unprecedentedly large increase in the volume of unnecessary court cases to protect rights that have been availed of for years. It would cause unnecessary solicitor costs, court costs and added court backlogs, as well as unnecessary stress between families and neighbours. This would be especially complicated in instances where there are many landowners in one area and would give rise to unnecessary disputes in such instances. It is clear that, should the Bill not have passed before the transitional phase ends on 30 November, there would have been a negative impact not only on our courts but also on citizens who have potentially enjoyed their rights for generations and those citizens who wish to register easements in a simple and cheap manner in future.

As well as this, the Law Society of Ireland has highlighted other issues of great concern regarding the coming statutory deadlines. It has stated, "If an application to validate rights over State land is not lodged before 1 December 2021, no application can be made to validate such rights for another 18 years, even where someone had been exercising those rights for 50 years or more." The prospect of this is incredibly worrying. In a country that is going through a housing crisis, the last thing that is needed is another barrier to allowing people to buy and sell property. If applications cannot be made to validate rights, this could have the effect of making property unsaleable. This will, of course, most significantly impact on those in rural and isolated locations such as Donegal.

What is more, the Law Society went on to state, "If an application to register rights over foreshore is not made before 1 December 2021, it cannot be made until 2069 i.e. 60 years from 2009." This is a crazy prospect and I am glad it is being addressed in section 3 because that is important, especially for the rights of seaweed harvesters. Those rights would be frozen and the action is welcome. When those rights are freed up again after the examination of rights, will that include only those rights registered since 2009 or will it include all those that were registered before the freezing took place? The Minister needs to clarify that or, if that is not possible, she might revert to us on it later. The right to harvest seaweed is vital along the west coast and the issue needs to be addressed.

It is clear there is a need for more comprehensive reform in the area of registering easements. Academics have pointed out deficiencies in the current law and the need for reform in this area, and I welcome the Minister’s commitment to addressing that. Nevertheless, I recognise the urgency and importance of passing the Bill before the legal cliff edge and hope it will pass speedily through the House.

See this speech in context