Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

I too welcome the new Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan, and wish her well in her new position. I also compliment her new Ministers of State, Deputies Browne and Brendan Smith. It would be remiss of me not to pay tribute to the former Minister, Deputy Walsh, former Minister of State, Deputy Aylward, who has gone to Europe, and Minister of State, Deputy Treacy.

I have always had an interest in the Land Commission and many years ago my first contribution in the Dáil dealt with it and the issue of commonages. I was keen, like many colleagues, that the Land Commission would divide whatever lands were available and, in particular, sort out the question of commonages. Unfortunately, to this day, there are still problems with commonages. I wrote to the Minister's predecessor and I will write to her about cases involving farmers who cannot get full area aid payments because two farmers have title to the same commonage. This will be a difficulty, particularly in the context of the six months provision for establishing title. It cannot be done in six months because of these difficulties. I hope more time will be provided and the issue of commonages will be addressed. It is not a good scenario to have farmers mixing cattle, etc, on commonages because of the implications for disease eradication.

I welcome the decision to remove the burden of annuities for many farmers and the Minister stated she will also deal with the question of arrears. I hope these cases will be resolved. Land acquisition has resulted in serious problems. If a politician could not ensure land would be acquired 20 or 30 years ago, he or she was in major trouble because people felt politicians should be involved. We were involved in land acquisition in Galway, particularly in regard to large estates such as Clonbrock and Dillon Mahon. We helped secure additional land for farmers.

One great benefit of this was the provision of land by the Land Commission to many sporting clubs. Many housing schemes were also provided. My own GAA club, Caltra, got the land for its pitch from the commission. The team was crowned All-Ireland champions on St. Patrick's Day this year, but we will not be there next year. However, I wish good luck to those who follow the team.

I wish to highlight the issue of farm workers, which has not been mentioned. When these estates were acquired, people working on them were in receipt of low incomes and, worse still, they were not treated well in terms of pensions nor were their spouses when they passed away. I asked the previous Minister to examine the issue and, in particular, to follow the example of the Tánaiste in her dealings with the former workers of the Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes when she was Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. They were in receipt of poor pensions but the Tánaiste has set a precedent, which can be used to benefit farm labourers, and I hope the Minister for Agriculture and Food will help them. They worked on these estates in difficult times and they deserve better recognition. A small number of people are involved and they have not received decent pensions. They should receive the same benefits as the employees of the Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, to the House and I congratulate him on his appointment. He also has an interest in rural affairs.

The Minister for Agriculture and Food referred to significant changes that have taken place in land acquisition and division. There was a time farmers could divide the land in Counties Galway and Roscommon and it was always a major issue at election time. The Minister also referred to the question of land consolidation, which is important. We had a briefing session with the IFA earlier and its representatives also referred to this issue. They concluded that if a farmer sold 20 acres at €10,000 per acre and replaced it by purchasing 20 more acres at the same price, they would be faced with a significant shortfall of €45,346 after paying capital gains tax, stamp duty, auctioneer fees, advertising and legal costs. For example, stamp duty at 9% would amount to €18,000. The costs involved should be taken into consideration when land is consolidated. The Minister for Finance should examine this issue in the context of the budget and that is why the IFA was lobbying us earlier. Capital gains tax and stamp duty are two of the major costs involved. I hope the Minister for Finance will examine this and I am sure the Minister for Agriculture and Food will work hard to ensure that happens.

I welcome the Bill. I have been debating the issue of land acquisition for 30 years, particularly in regard to commonages, which should be divided once and for all so that the current confusion where farmers are claiming title to the same land is eliminated. Farmers are not being paid their full area aid entitlement and, despite the best efforts of the area aid section in the Department, farmers are having to wait longer for such payments. The Minister has done a good day's work by introducing these improvements. Similar Bills have been introduced previously to give people the option of buying out land. Under the Land Commission legislation, people could buy land or pay high rents on it. However, the Minister is easing the burden on farmers and, hopefully, they will be able to deal with the arrears issue, but they should be given more than six months to resolve the problem of title. That is a major issue in the west where there is so much commonage and fragmentation of land.