Seanad debates

Tuesday, 16 November 2021

Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Lynn BoylanLynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The amendments are all interlinked. Amendment No. 3 is a consequence of amendment No. 6, which deletes section 3 in its entirety, and is consequential to the reference to that section earlier in section 2.Our concern, which we raised on Committee Stage, is that the Bill repeals the prescription period of 12 years given to users against private owners of land but seeks to retain the prescription periods of 30 years and 60 years for foreshore in respect of land owned by a Minister, the State or the Commissioners of Public Works, referred to in the 2009 Act as State authorities. These prescription periods and the different treatment of those State authorities than the treatment of private landlords were introduced by the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 and may have had some justification, at least in respect of the 30-year period where the general period of prescription was being reduced to 12 years. With the repeal of the 12-year period by the Bill, the rationale for treating land in the ownership of these State authorities differently from other land has ceased. We are concerned that these prescription periods are unduly onerous to users of easements. The term-----

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