Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

While I understand the motivation behind this amendment, I would be foolish to accept it because the question of compulsory registration is being examined in the Department and the Land Registry. I propose to bring forward an amendment on Report Stage to deal with compulsory registration. Section 24 of the Registration of Title Act 1964 provides that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may, by order, designate areas in which registration of ownership becomes compulsory. Registration of ownership becomes compulsory in the case of a freehold interest upon conveyance on sale or in the case of leasehold interest, on the grant or assignment on sale of such an interest.

Members know that conveyance on sale means the sale for money or money's worth but there are also other ways in which property is transmitted — such as succession — some of which may not require that the land be registered. Despite any of my efforts to promote registration of land, we must concede that the Registry of Deeds system will be there for some time. If I thought I could wave a magic wand, wind it up and transform it into a museum, I would gladly do so. One would need to be very optimistic to say that one could establish a universal registration exercise and eliminate the Registry of Deeds within any short to medium timeframe. The resources involved in compulsory registration of the entire country would be vast. It may be that once we have fully electronic mapping and full electronic conveyancing, the resources involved in compulsory registration of the entire country would be reduced. Nonetheless, the resources would still be enormous. Compulsory registration must be done on a gradual basis. We could not engage in a burst of compulsory registration for the entire country without very significant dislocation and delay and great expense.