Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Is Bille gearr teicniúil é seo, an Bille Um Chomhaontú na Breataine-na hÉireann (Leasú) 2005, a dhéanfaidh soiléiriú ar an gcosaint atá ann go bhfaighidh na Stáit dílse sna Comhlachtaí Foirfheidhmithe Thuaidh-Theas.

This is basically a technical Bill. The purpose is to protect State property vested in the North-South implementation bodies. As the House is aware, the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999 established the six North-South implementation bodies: the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission; InterTrade Ireland; An Foras Teanga; SafeFood; the Special European Union Programmes Body; and Waterways Ireland. Two of the bodies are under the aegis of my Department, co-sponsored with the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in the North. These are An Foras Teanga and Waterways Ireland.

The purpose of the Bill to remedy a possible technical defect in section 53(b) of the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999, which gives the North-South implementation bodies protection as State authorities under landlord and tenant, ground rents, legislation. The effect of such protection is that a lessee does not acquire the right to buy out the fee simple of a property on State land in respect of which a ground rent is paid. However, the reference in section 53(b) is to section 70 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1980. This is, in effect, a subsequent amending provision. The original provision which shields State authorities is section 4 of the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act 1978.

The issue mainly arises for Waterways Ireland in view of its extensive property portfolio, but the Bill covers the other North-South bodies also. The issue only arises in the South. There are no implications for the operations of the bodies in the North because this is Irish legislation.

The overall effect of the 1978 Act is to give a lessee of certain categories of property the right to acquire the fee simple, subject to conditions and exemptions detailed in that Act. Section 4 provides that this right does not apply in the case of properties leased from a Minister of the Government, the Commissioners of Public Works or the Land Commission. Section 70 of the 1980 Act is a subsequent provision, which modifies that general exemption by creating a right to buy out the fee simple in the case of dwellinghouses erected on land owned by a State authority, subject to the right of a State authority to prevent alienation of an individual property where it considers that the public interest so requires.

This Bill removes any doubt that a North-South implementation body is not bound by the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act 1978 and directly incorporates the exemption in respect of that protection for dwellinghouses contained in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1980 in the same terms as set out in that Act. The legislation does not apply to any notice of intention or any application made in relation to the acquisition of the fee simple before the passing of the Bill or any arbitration or appeal to the Circuit Court in respect of such a notice or application. Any such notice or application — I am informed by Waterways Ireland that it currently has 12 cases on its hands — and any subsequent developments, whether by way of arbitration or Circuit Court hearing, will continue as if this Bill had not been enacted.

I stress that this legislation seeks to deal with a potential technical defect in the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999. The intention of the Oireachtas at that time is abundantly clear from section 53 of the Act. The intention was to put Waterways Ireland and the other North-South implementation bodies in the same position vis-À-vis ground rent legislation as are the Office of Public Works or a Minister acting as State authorities. This means that the relevant sections of the 1978 (No. 2) Act and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1980 I referred to earlier would apply. It will be a matter as appropriate for the courts to interpret the current legislation and make decisions on any cases that come before them. Nothing I say today should be construed as a comment on any case that might end up in such a position, or a statement that there is solid ground for any such notice to be served or any case that might be taken.

The Bill is being introduced today with a view to its passage through both Houses in one day and signature by the President later today. It has already been passed by Dáil Éireann. This is considered advisable in the interests of clarity with regard to this area of the law.

The Bill is a short one and contains four sections. Sections 1 and 4 are technical. Section 2 refers to section 53(a) of the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999, which provides that a body is a State authority for the purposes of the Statue of Limitations 1957, and creates a new section 53(A) in the 1999 Act to expand and clarify the existing provision in section 53(b) of that Act. The new section clarifies that a North-South implementation body is not bound by the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act 1978 and repeats the exemption in respect of dwelling houses contained in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1980 in the same terms as set out in that Act. Section 3 provides the appropriate savers in respect of any application made prior to the enactment of the Bill under the ground rents legislation or any appeal before the courts.

Senators will have appreciated by now that the Bill is designed to put into legislative form the clear, unequivocal original intention of the Oireachtas to provide the North-South implementation bodies with the necessary legislative protection for the State property vested in them for the benefit of all. This is the kernel of the matter. Sometimes people deal with State assets as belonging to some distant body rather than as the property of the people. Assets vested in the State are held in trust by the State for the people. The Oireachtas is a trustee and it must ensure that it protects the people's assets from any possible unintended defect or loophole in the law. Tá súil agam anois go dtuigfear gur rud beag teicniúil atá i gceist anseo. Tá sé ciallmhar an leasú seo a thabhairt isteach gan fanacht go dtí go mbeidh fadhb ann. I gcomhthéacs eile le gairid bhí muid ag plé le tábhacht má tá dlíthiúil ar bith ann, ba cheart an t-amhras sin a leigheas trí reachtaíocht. Tá súil agam go nglacfadh an Teach seo leis an reachtaíocht.