John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

Recently I met a farmer who will lose ten acres of land to the Dublin-Waterford motorway. He is a man who never sold a site and has no intention of ever selling one. The only intention he has is to build up his enterprise and he is losing ten acres of ground. In effect, the Government is stealing two of those acres from him because he will have to pay capital gains tax on land he had no intention of selling and in no way wanted to sell but found himself being forced to sell. Two acres of his farm are being taken for free from him and that is not acceptable.

Provision should be made to allow farmers who want to reinvest the money received from compulsory acquisition back into the enterprise to do so without paying tax. That is a very fair thing to do as they are not willing sellers or trying to liquidate their assets to make a quick buck. In most cases these people have no intention of selling land. In my area I know a number of people who are not just losing plots of land but they are losing houses. They will be out of pocket because their land or house will be knocked or changed into a motorway. It is not acceptable that something for the public benefit would cause these people to be in any way out of pocket. It is a public service.

I attended a number of meetings and emotions run high on this issue, particularly if someone will lose a house to a new road. Understandably, people get very emotional. I know the Minister of State's heart is in the right place but I would have preferred him to use his influence in his new position to ensure that unwilling sellers would not find themselves out of pocket for providing land for much needed public transport initiatives. The Minister of State should accept this recommendation.