Land Act, 1965

Amendment of section 32 of Land Act, 1933.

35.—(1) Section 32 of the Land Act, 1933 , is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section or in any other enactment, the Land Commission shall not acquire compulsorily for any purpose other than the relief of congestion in the immediate neighbourhood or the provision of sports fields, parks, pleasure-grounds or play-grounds, or the provision of gardens for schools, or (in the case only of land not situate within fifty yards of an occupied dwellinghouse which was in existence at the commencement of the qualifying period) the provision of facilities for persons boating or fishing on the sea or on a lake or river, any land in respect of which the Lay Commissioners are satisfied that—

(a) the tenant or proprietor of the land has not in the qualifying period offered it for sale, and

(b) any one of the following requirements which is applicable has been bona fide complied with—

(i) where a person other than a body corporate is the sole tenant or proprietor of the land—such person has throughout the whole of the qualifying period resided either on the land or in the immediate neighbourhood thereof;

(ii) where a body corporate is the sole tenant or proprietor of the land—each of the persons entitled to a beneficial interest in the body corporate has throughout the whole of the qualifying period resided either on the land or in the immediate neighbourhood thereof;

(iii) in any case not mentioned in subparagraph (i) or (ii) of this paragraph—all the persons entitled to a beneficial interest in any part of or share in the land and all the persons entitled to a beneficial interest in the body or bodies corporate, which is or are entitled to any part of or share in the land, have throughout the whole of the qualifying period resided either on the land or in the immediate neighbourhood thereof;

provided that the requirement in respect of residence shall in no case be satisfied or deemed to be satisfied by compliance with any statutory provision whatsoever relating to residence by a body corporate, and

(c) having regard to the area, situation and character of such land, the amount of congestion and unemployment existing in the immediate neighbourhood of such land and the country generally, and the desirability of increasing the production of food, such land, in the qualifying period, produced an adequate amount of agricultural products and provided an adequate amount of employment, reckoning in such employment any relatives of the tenant or proprietor of the land who are permanently employed thereon.”, and

(b) by the addition of the following subsection after subsection (4):

“(5) In this section—

‘immediate neighbourhood’ includes any place which the Lay Commissioners are satisfied is not more than three miles from the nearest point of the relevant land;

‘qualifying period’ means the period of one year ending on the date of the publication in the Iris Oifigiúil of the certificate and provisional list required by subsection (1) of section 25 of the Land Act, 1936 , to be so published;

‘throughout the whole of the qualifying period resided’ shall be construed as requiring that the person or persons mentioned in subparagraph (i), (ii) or (iii) (as the case may be) of paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of this section has or have ordinarily dwelt on or in the immediate neighbourhood of the land, provided that the Lay Commissioners may at their discretion disregard, for the purposes of this section, any temporary absence or absences from the land which they are satisfied is or are reasonably attributable to illness, business, education, vacation or any other cause;

‘tenant or proprietor’ includes the wife or husband of a tenant or proprietor.”.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, any proceedings pending at the passing of this Act in respect of land included in a provisional list under section 25 of the Land Act, 1936 , published before the passing of this Act, shall be continued and concluded as if this section had not been enacted.