Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I am grateful to the House for its timely consideration of this measure. I thank the Members and officials in my Department for speedily getting this legislation through at this stage of the legislative process.

It is my intention to put the Register of Deeds and the Land Registry on this new footing as soon as possible. I also wish to speed up the modernisation process in this area. This is why the additional amendments were made today, in response to the remarks made in the Seanad on Committee Stage.

On 13 July, I will visit the Law Reform Commission and launch a fairly fundamental document. New legislation to deal with all land law in Ireland, changing it from a feudal concept of ownership to a republican concept of ownership, will sweep away much medieval law and replace it with a thoroughly modern statutory format. I pay tribute on this occasion to Professor John Wylie, the author of many land law textbooks and a distinguished academic, for the work he and officials from the Law Reform Commission and my Department carried out as members of the working group to bring this draft legislation to an advanced stage.