Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I assure Senator Tuffy that many modern legal documents contain an extraordinary amount of archaic language. One does not have to go into the Registry of Deeds to find archaic language.

I welcome the Minister of State and the legislation. It is another legislative incursion into medieval history and the extraordinarily complex accretion of different types of land law and tenure through the centuries. If one goes into old libraries one will find dusty volumes trying to explain the complexities of it all. On the surface it might look as if James Fintan Lalor's dream of the repeal of the conquest had come true but there are enough clauses to prevent that. Perhaps it will also bring about the abolition of feudalism. Admittedly it deals with the rights of rivers and waterways but I am reminded of controversies in certain parts of the country, such as County Waterford, where modern capitalism joins ancient feudalism to make a formidable combination, particularly as the revolutionary spirit has since died down again.

This Bill is of some personal interest to me. I suppose I am a descendant of one of the 17th century English settlers referred to by the Minister of State. When land was conveyed to myself and my brother 30 years ago, we were told by a solicitor that it was unregistered because, I believe, it was mostly tenant lands which were registered and not necessarily what remained, namely, demesne lands. In theory the land was a type of tenancy of the demesne but, nonetheless, it was unregistered. Obviously, it is sensible to rationalise and streamline these laws.

This brings me to more modern times. Having recently gone through the conveyancing process in respect of a couple of houses in this city, I was struck by how extraordinarily cumbersome it was. Suggestions in a policy sense that this might be simplified, modernised and rationalised were very firmly sat upon by a lately deceased leader of my party. Undoubtedly, it was a very nice earner for the legal profession at the time. It was a complicated process. Having had recent experience of conveyancing, I hope it will become more streamlined and less expensive. With modern technology, there is no reason large fees should be charged for conveyancing.

If I had a slight reservation about the Minister of State's contribution, it was that it was full of reform of the law, laws of conveyancing and so on. It did not spell out in any detail the advantages to the average citizen engaging in the conveyancing process.