Eamon Scanlon (Fianna Fail)

It is a great honour for me to welcome the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan, to the Seanad today. While it might be Cork's loss, it is certainly the north west's gain. I congratulate her on her appointment as Minister.

I listened with interest to the Minister's speech which indicated that the farmers of this country owe a great debt of gratitude to the politicians who set up the Land Commission and to the people who administered the function of that office over the years, particularly since 1930. She said in her speech that, following the Second World War, the problems and tax regime that existed in England encouraged many people to come to this country to buy land. I recall farmers getting bills and annuities which they had great difficulty paying. One can imagine these people trying to compete with very wealthy people who were coming to this country and buying up land. It is important to put on the record our gratitude to these people for their foresight. The only negative aspect is the way they distributed the land, with a field here and a field there, which is still causing wars. However, the situation is improving.

I welcome the Bill which will mean annuities of under €200 for 4,500 farmers. I imagine most farmers would owe much less. It will give them an opportunity to buy out the annuity. The fact that the arrears will be written off will provide farmers with a great opportunity in this regard. I agree with other Senators that the six month timescale may be too short. I know from my auctioneering business that the situation regarding some titles is a mess. Sometimes they go back over two or three generations which takes a long time to sort out, so perhaps we should examine this aspect. It is important to get the information out to farmers. Some speakers suggested that the Department should notify farmers of their entitlement to avail of this opportunity.

It would be a good idea if the Department examined the capital gains tax charged on the sale of land under compulsory purchase orders. The last thing most farmers want to do is sell land. If they do so, the first thing they try to do is replace the land disposed of. This is becoming much more difficult because of increasing costs. It would help if this issue was examined. I welcome the Bill.