Statute of Limitations, 1957

Limitation of actions to recover land.

13.—(1) (a) Subject to paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subsection, no action shall be brought by a State authority to recover any land after the expiration of thirty years from the date on which the right of action accrued to a State authority or, if it first accrued to some person through whom a State authority claims, to that person.

(b) An action to recover foreshore may be brought by a State authority at any time before the expiration of sixty years from the date on which the right of action accrued to a State authority.

(c) Where any right of action to recover land, which has ceased to be foreshore but remains in the ownership of the State, accrued when the land was foreshore, the action may be brought at any time before the expiration of sixty years from the date of the accrual of the right of action, or of forty years from the date on which the land ceased to be foreshore, whichever period first expires.

(2) The following provisions shall apply to an action by a person (other than a State authority) to recover land—

(a) subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, no such action shall be brought after the expiration of twelve years from the date on which the right of action accrued to the person bringing it or, if it first accrued to some person through whom he claims, to that person;

(b) if the right of action first accrued to a State authority, the action may be brought at any time before the expiration of the period during which the action could have been brought by a State authority, or of twelve years from the date on which the right of action accrued to some person other than a State authority, whichever period first expires.

(3) For the purposes of this Act—

(a) where a right of action to recover any land accrued to the Crown before the 6th day of December, 1922, the right of action shall be deemed to have accrued to a State authority on the date on which the right of action first accrued to the Crown;

(b) where a right of action to recover any land accrued to Saorstát Éireann before the 29th day of December, 1937, the right of action shall be deemed to have accrued to a State authority on the date on which the right of action first accrued to Saorstát Éireann;

(c) where a right of action to recover any land accrued to the State before the operative date, the right of action shall be deemed to have accrued to a State authority on the date on which the right of action first accrued to the State.