Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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494. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the existing provisions relating to ground rent purchase scheme here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40998/14]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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496. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to make changes to the ground rent regime here in view of the dubious constitutionality of the provisions as they currently stand; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40999/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 494 and 496 together.

The position is that section 2 of the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act 1978 introduced a prohibition on the creation of new leases reserving ground rents on dwellings. As regards existing ground rents, Part III of the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No.2) Act 1978 contains a statutory scheme whereby a person may, at reasonable cost, acquire the fee simple in his or her dwelling. To date, over 80,000 applicants have acquired freehold title to their property under this scheme. In the case of property other than dwellings, the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act 1967 contains provisions which facilitate acquisition of the fee simple in certain cases subject to agreed terms or on terms set out in an arbitration carried out by the County Registrar. Comprehensive details of the manner in which the fee simple can be purchased under these schemes are available on the Property Registration Authority's website (www.prai.ie).

As regards the constitutionality issue, the position is that the ground rents issue was considered by the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution in their 2004 Report 'Private Property'. The Committee took the view that a ground landlord's ground rent is a form of property right which is constitutionally protected and that abolition of such rents would be unconstitutional in the absence of adequate monetary compensation. The Committee also noted that where leases were approaching expiry, any legislation providing for the abolition of ground rents would have to provide for the payment of enhanced compensation by the ground tenant. In light of the foregoing, I have no immediate plans to introduce further legislation in this area. Operation of the existing law is, however, being kept under review by my Department.