Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ar son Fhine Gael, cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo agus roimh an Aire Stáit freisin. Cé go bhfuil sé déanach, tá sé tábhachtach agus ní fheicim aon fá ar cheart dúinn vóta a chaitheamh i gcoinne an Bhille seo. Caithimid tacaíocht a thabhairt dó.

Senator Paul Daly, when he spoke earlier, was very self-effacing when he said that this is a difficult matter to understand. I have practised at the Bar for 15 years yet I must sit down and read this legislation in some detail to have any idea what it is about. I am grateful for the Department's briefing notes in that regard. In fact, that is probably true for most members of the Bar, notwithstanding that experts from the Bar gave a submission through the Bar Council. As a general rule, solicitors are more familiar with land law. In fact, there is a standing expression that when it comes to land law most of us are at sea and that is the reality. Land law is incredibly archaic and convoluted. Even the terms used such as easements and profits à prendreare archaic.

The Bill is technical but I recognise that it does something that is important even if it is late in the day. I remember when the 2009 Act came through and back in the early 2000s steps were taken to reform the land and conveyancing laws. These laws are archaic. Many of the terms and bases on which the legislation is currently based, date back to the Middle Ages so it is appropriate that we reform the law even at this late stage. I welcome the fact that we are bringing some clarity to this but, as has been said by other speakers, there should be even greater clarity. What would be very welcome would be a streamlining of the law. Senator Boyhan mentioned the need for simplification but I think even that would be an incredibly difficult project and a worthwhile one.

It is appropriate that ordinary people and ordinary barristers would be able to easily interpret the law to understand what it means, what effect it has and how it affects them or their neighbours. Reference has been made to how this matter has a very significant impact on rural areas but, as has been said, it affects urban areas. Senator Boyhan referred to the county development plan of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which I was part of in the past. There are rights of way in that area and in many ways the communities are perhaps unaware of the extinguishing of some of those rights of way. I am aware of a right of way at the end of Pottery Road, which is literally 100 m away from where I grew up, where a petrol station has de facto extinguished the right of way in order to make the plot of land more valuable and open to development. The local community is unaware that this has happened. Very often, in such cases, the local authority is not interested in getting down and dirty to establish these rights that benefit the local community. I can understand why they are not because there is exposure and costs for local authorities. In addition, they do not really get the support from central government that they need to be more proactive in preserving rights of way.

A right of way at my alma materof St. Laurence College, Loughlinstown, runs right next to the school and almost across a playing pitch. That makes it incredibly difficult for the school to establish a playing pitch. It wanted to move the right of way. We all hoped that there would be progress in that regard in the development plan. As the right of way goes right past the school all day when classes are going on one could have people from outside the school, from the local community or from outside the local area walk right past the windows of classrooms and, possibly, disrupt classes or cause other mischief.The sensible thing would be not to extinguish the right of way because it is an important route for people from the residential area to get to the N11, bus stops and so on, but to move it so that it takes a slightly different route, still preserving the right of people to cross that territory while facilitating the need of the school to have access to its lands. It is a technical Bill. It does something that must be done at the end of the day. However, it is important to recognise that it also takes place in an information vacuum. I say that in no way wishing to be critical of any organisation or individual. Reference has been made to two tremendously important issues, namely a proper review of this area of the law to establish that we can change it in a way that makes it more accessible to everyone, but equally, a public information campaign. People should properly understand the rights that are in play here and the fact that they sometimes need to take steps to protect their rights in a local community to facilitate them but in the first instance to let them know. A public information campaign can only be properly successful when the law itself is accessible. If the law is as dense as the current conveyancing law and land law generally is in this country, it is almost impossible to have an effective public information campaign that explains to people what is involved. There is no realistic opportunity to talk to people about medieval land law and expect them to be either interested or engaged in it. The two issues go hand in glove, one being the reform of the area of law but the other being that information campaign to let people know what is happening. This Bill is a stepping stone, a stopgap and a necessary plug in the dam as it were, and on that basis the Fine Gael group and I have no difficulty in supporting it. I hope it is the first step in a process that brings us closer to a more comprehensive and accessible land law system.