Land Act , 1939

54 Power to appoint limited administrators and nominate representatives of tenants and owners in certain cases.

54.—(1) Where any difficulty arises in proceedings under the Land Purchase Acts by reason of the fact that a person to whom this section applies has died and there is no legal personal representative of such deceased person or the services of the legal personal representative of such deceased person are not conveniently available for the purposes of such proceedings, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) the Land Commission may, on such terms and conditions (if any) as they may think proper, appoint some proper person to be the administrator of the personal estate of such deceased person limited to the purposes of such proceedings,

(b) the said person so appointed shall, for the purposes of such proceedings, represent such deceased person in the same manner as if such deceased person had died intestate and letters of administration of his personal estate had been duly granted to the said person so appointed,

(c) the Land Commission may, if they so think fit, vest the relevant holding or parcel in the said person so appointed.

(2) Where any difficulty arises in proceedings under the Land Purchase Acts by reason of the fact that a person to whom this section applies is absent or is under a disability, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) the Land Commission may nominate a person to represent for the purposes of such proceedings such person absent or under a disability,

(b) the said person so nominated shall be entitled to do all acts necessary for the purposes of such proceedings as if he were the donee of a power of attorney from such person absent or under a disability,

(c) the Land Commission may, if they so think fit, vest the relevant holding or parcel in the said person so nominated.

(3) Where a holding or parcel is vested by the Land Commission in a person who under this section is either appointed to be the administrator of the personal estate of a deceased person or nominated to represent a person absent or under a disability, the interest so vested shall be a graft upon the interest of such deceased person or such person absent or under a disability (as the case may be).

(4) This section applies to every person who is—

(a) the tenant of a holding comprised in a list of congested districts holdings published under section 23 of the Land Act, 1931, or in a list of holdings on untenanted land published or deemed to be published under section 24 of that Act as amended by section 33 of the Land Act, 1936, or

(b) the tenant of a holding (not being a holding comprised in any such list of congested districts holdings) on an estate transferred by the Land Law (Commission) Act, 1923 (No. 27 of 1923), from the late Congested Districts Board to the Land Commission or purchased by the Land Commission under powers transferred by that Act from the said Board to the Land Commission, or

(c) the tenant or owner of a holding or parcel of land proposed to be exchanged for or consolidated with other land, or

(d) the tenant or owner of a holding or parcel of land for the benefit or improvement of which the Land Commission propose to make an expenditure by way of an advance or free grant.

(5) No appointment shall be made after the passing of this Act under either section 1 of the Land Act, 1929, or section 20 of the Land Act, 1936.

55 Power of the Land Commission to make new watercourses and drains.

55.—(1) Whenever the Lay Commissioners (other than the members of the Appeal Tribunal) are of opinion that it is necessary or expedient for the improvement of any land which has at any time, whether before or after the passing of this Act, been purchased or agreed to be purchased under the Land Purchase Acts, that new watercourses or new drains should be made through other lands and that the making of such watercourses or such drains through such other lands is reasonable in the circumstances, the said Lay Commissioners may by order empower the Land Commission to enter on the said other lands and there to make such watercourses or such drains as may be specified in such order and do all such things, including the removal of soil, as may be necessary for or incidental to the making of such watercourses or drains.

(2) Every order under the foregoing sub-section of this section shall be made either on the consent of the owner of the land upon which the watercourses or the drains are to be made under such order or after service of the prescribed notices and the making of the prescribed investigations, and shall, in either case, contain such terms as to compensation or otherwise as the circumstances of the case may require.

(3) Where the compensation payable in accordance with an order under this section in respect of any land does not exceed fifty pounds, such compensation may be paid to the person who satisfies the Land Commission that, for not less than six years immediately preceding the date of such order, he or his predecessors in title have been in actual occupation of such land.

(4) An appeal shall lie to the Appeal Tribunal from every order made under this section otherwise than on the consent of the owner of the land on which watercourses or drains are authorised by such order to be made, and the decision of the Appeal Tribunal on any such appeal shall be final, subject only to an appeal to the Supreme Court on questions of law.

56 Extension of the power of the Land Commission to confer water-rights.

56.—The powers conferred on the Land Commission by section 38 (which relates to the conferring of water-rights) of the Land Act, 1931, in relation to water-sources on land sold or agreed to be sold under the Land Purchase Acts are hereby extended to and shall be exercisable in relation to water-sources (within the meaning of the said section) on lands not so sold or agreed to be sold, and for that purpose—

(a) the words “sold or agreed to be sold under the Land Purchase Acts” shall be deemed to be omitted from sub-section (1) of the said section 38, and

(b) the words “so sold or agreed to be sold” in the said sub-section (1) shall be construed as referring to a sale or agreement for sale under the Land Purchase Acts.

57 Powers of the Land Commission for purposes of sand fixation.

57.—(1) Where it appears to the Land Commission that injury is being or is likely to be caused to any land by the blowing or drifting of sand on to such land, whether from the same or from other land, and the Land Commission determines to undertake and carry out work (in this section referred to as sand fixation) to prevent the blowing or drifting of such sand, it shall be lawful for the Land Commission to do, for the purpose of such sand fixation, all or any of the following things, that is to say:—

(a) to acquire compulsorily for a specified period any land or any easement or other right over or in respect of any land;

(b) to suspend, restrict, or otherwise interfere with, for and during a specified period, the exercise of any easement or other right over or in respect of any land;

(c) to close, divert, or otherwise interfere with, for and during a specified period, any public or private road, way, bridge, or waterway.

(2) Whenever the Land Commission proposes to exercise a power conferred by the foregoing sub-section of this section, the Land Commission shall publish in the Iris Oifigiúil a notice stating their intention to exercise such power and—

(a) specifying (as the case may be) the land, easement, or right proposed to be compulsorily acquired, or the easement or right the exercise of which is proposed to be interfered with, or the road, way, bridge, or waterway proposed to be interfered with, and

(b) where interference with an easement, right, road, way, bridge, or waterway is proposed, stating the particulars of such interference, and

(c) stating the period for and during which such compulsory acquisition or such interference is proposed to be made, and

(d) stating the manner in which and the time within which objections to the proposed exercise of such power may be lodged.

(3) The Land Commission shall not exercise, in relation to land which is seashore within the meaning of the Foreshore Act, 1933 (No. 12 of 1933), a power conferred by this section save after consultation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce.

(4) All objections duly made to the exercise by the Land Commission of a power conferred by this section shall be determined by the Lay Commissioners (other than the members of the Appeal Tribunal) and, if and when all such objections (if any) have been finally determined or the time for making such objections has expired without any such objection having been duly made, the Land Commission may, whether the compensation or price has or has not been ascertained, make such order as is requisite for the exercise of such power and is authorised by this section.

(5) An order made by the Land Commission under this section shall be expressed and shall operate to do whichever one or more of the following things is appropriate, that is to say:—

(a) to vest in the Land Commission, for and during a specified period, the land, easement, or right;

(b) to suspend, for and during a specified period, the exercise of the easement or right;

(c) to authorise the Land Commission to restrict or interfere with, for and during a specified period, the exercise of the easement or right;

(d) to authorise the Land Commission to close, divert or otherwise interfere with, for and during a specified period, the road, way, bridge, or waterway.

(6) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to the price or compensation to be paid by the Land Commission in respect of the exercise by the Land Commission of a power conferred by this section, that is to say:—

(a) such price or compensation shall, in default of agreement, be fixed by the Lay Commissioners (other than the members of the Appeal Tribunal);

(b) an appeal shall lie to the Appeal Tribunal from an order of the Lay Commissioners fixing such price or compensation, and the decision of the Appeal Tribunal on such appeal shall be final;

(c) such price or compensation shall be paid in money and may be either a lump sum or a rent or other annual payment;

(d) if such price or compensation is a lump sum, it shall be lodged to the credit of the matter and shall be allocated by the Judicial Commissioner as if it were the price of land purchased under the Land Purchase Acts;

(e) if such price or compensation is a rent or other annual payment, it shall be paid to such person as, in default of agreement, shall be determined by the Judicial Commissioner;

(f) such price or compensation, whether a lump sum or a rent or annual payment, shall be paid out of money provided by the Oireaehtas.

58 Prohibition of removal of surface of certain land.

58.—(1) This section applies only to land the whole or an undivided share or undivided shares of which has or have been purchased or agreed to be purchased under the Land Purchase Acts and which is owned by two or more persons as joint tenants or as tenants in common.

(2) Whenever it appears to the Land Commission that the removal of the surface of any land or of part of any land to which this section applies has injured or is likely to injure such land by prejudicing the future reclamation, afforestation, cultivation, or other use thereof, the Land Commission may by order prohibit the removal of the surface of such land.

(3) The Land Commission shall not make an order under the foregoing sub-section of this section save—

(a) after giving in the prescribed manner the prescribed notice of their intention to make such order, and

(b) where such land or any part thereof is seashore within the meaning of the Foreshore Act, 1933 (No. 12 of 1933), after consultation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce.

(4) If any person removes the surface of any land in contravention of an order made by the Land Commission under this section, such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one pound for every square yard of such land from which the surface is so removed.

59 Sale under section 4 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, otherwise than by means of an advance.

59.—(1) Where a parcel of land is sold to trustees for any of the purposes mentioned in section 4 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, or in that section as extended by section 18 of the Irish Land Act, 1909, or by section 69 of the Land Act, 1923, or by section 33 of the Land Act, 1933, such parcel may be purchased by such trustees otherwise than by means of an advance under the Land Purchase Acts.

(2) Where a parcel of land is, by virtue of the foregoing sub-section of this section, purchased by trustees otherwise than by means of an advance under the Land Purchase Acts, the provisions of section 20 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, and the relevant provisions of the said section 18 of the Irish Land Act, 1909, and of the said section 69 of the Land Act, 1923, shall apply and have effect in relation to such sale and purchase.

60 Amendment of section 31 of the Land Act, 1923.

60.—Sub-section (2) of section 31 of the Land Act, 1923, (except so much of that sub-section as requires the Land Commission to be satisfied as to the intention of an applicant not to sell, let, or assign the land) shall not apply in any case of a sale under the said section 31 in respect of which the Land Commission is satisfied that, having regard to the nature or character of the parcel of land which is the subject of the sale or the purpose for which it is purchased, the provisions of sub-section (2) of the said section 31 (except as aforesaid) are inappropriate and should not be applicable.

61 Advances on resale of houses in towns or villages.

61.—(1) On the resale of a holding consisting of a house (whether with or without a garden or similar plot of ground attached thereto) in a town or village, the Land Commission may make an advance under the Land Purchase Acts to the purchaser of such holding on such resale notwithstanding that such purchaser is not in occupation of such holding or is in occupation of part only thereof.

(2) An advance made under this section shall be repayable by the like purchase annuity as would be applicable to such advance if the purchaser to whom it was made were in occupation of the holding.