Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I thank all Senators who contributed to the debate. I have noted the remarks made and will take a minute or two to address some of the concerns expressed. I am sure we will have an opportunity for further in-depth discussion during the Committee Stage debate.

Overall, everyone has welcomed the introduction of the legislation. I will deal first with Senator Leyden's point about lands on hand, an issue of interest to me also. The Department, as successor to the Land Commission, holds 33 hectares of agricultural land and 655 hectares of non-agricultural land. The agricultural land is located in Galway, Mayo and Wicklow and the non-agricultural land is spread throughout seven counties including Cork, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Offaly, Roscommon and Sligo.

Most of the land deemed capable of being utilised for agriculture is of marginal quality. The exact location of some non-agricultural land is uncertain. Much of it is in old Congested Districts Board estates with some including graveyards, roads, water pipes and piers. Lands classified as non-agricultural are mainly bogland and woodland held in fee simple. In the case of bogland, some parcels are held in fee simple together with rights of turbary while others are held in fee simple only as rights of turbary over them have been allotted. I also have tabular information which I can make available to Senator Leyden following our discussion.

A number of themes ran through today's discussion. I am not surprised by the high degree of interest in this legislation. This is not the first buy-out scheme introduced. We must consider the legislation in the context of two previous buy-outs. In 1989, all annuities of less than £10 were written off by the Government of the day. There was a further write-off in 1993 of all annuities of less than £20. In 1993, a buy-out discount of 50% of the outstanding capital was also offered to each annuitant not in arrears.

I would also like to address Senator Coonan's point. All annuitants whose annuities were over 10% and who did not avail of the buy-out at the time had their annuities reduced to 10% and the repayments were rescheduled. We are not working in a vacuum; we are working in a continuum of buy-outs and discounts provided. On that basis, I would have some difficulty increasing the threshold. That matter can be discussed further on Committee Stage. My argument is based on the fact that farmers were given other opportunities at the time.