Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. There is an amendment that I had intended to introduce but I have not done so. I support amendment No. 4. These issues have been highlighted in terms of the other rights that have been acquired that could potentially be extinguished, which we do not want to be the case. There are plans to address these issues in the review that is planned for next year. While I welcome the Minister of State's indication of the Government's intention to engage in that review with interested Members of the Oireachtas as well as stakeholders and interested members of the public, the concern outlined in a number of the amendments, particularly amendment No. 4, is that the cliff-edge effect of the 30 November deadline does not apply to any easement. We do not have a list of the cohort of easements, rights of way or profits à prendrethat may have been acquired under diverse Acts rather than the doctrine of lost ground that may be lost or distinguished, and we may end up being unable to address such issues in a review retrospectively because there have been extinguishments. This matter arises more in the later amendments.

For the purposes of brevity, I wish to highlight the amendment that I did not table but that should be taken into account in the review. The period of 60 years in respect of access to the foreshore on State land, which is the forthcoming change, is too long. A 30-year or 40-year period is more appropriate. I am concerned that the 60-year period will create an unreachable burden of proof in terms of rights of way, easements and-----