Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

Section 5 requires those who are registering a land transaction, as defined in this section, to furnish beforehand a clearance certificate to the Land Registry to confirm that no arrears of annuities are due to the Department. Clearance certificates will be issued by my Department. Under section 5(2), as currently drafted, the Land Registry does not require that a certificate of clearance in respect of annuity arrears be furnished in the case of a site transfer of one hectare or less.

One of the Bill's main objectives is to reduce the level of arrears of annuity payments that has developed in recent years. The amount of such arrears is approximately €5 million at present. Amendment No. 13 will ensure that farmers who do not avail of the buy-out scheme and have not maintained annuity payments in the past will be obliged to discharge all outstanding arrears where they are receiving capital from the sale of a portion of their land.

I am conscious that farmers with annuity arrears may make voluntary transfers with no consideration passing. A site may be transferred from a farmer to his son or daughter, for example. In such circumstances, my Department will, as in set-off situations, discuss the annuity arrears position with the farmer concerned before deciding to issue a clearance certificate to the Land Registry. The House should note that if there are no annuity arrears, the clearance certificate required will be issued to the annuity holder without undue delay. Annuity holders are obliged, just like all mortgage holders in the State, to ensure that their financial circumstances are in order at all times. The proposed amendment will ensure that we meet the overall objective of the Bill, which is to reduce the number of annuity holders with arrears. I ask the House to accept the amendment.