132:
period had been poorer and more desperate, and few came from larger prosperous farms. This remained a matter of policy debate for the rest of the commission's existence; generally, it continued to create new small units by breaking up larger units that had more commercial potential. Larger commercial farmers were characterised as "landlords" or "grazers" simply because they had more land than the average.
119:, which provided government finance to buy out freeholds, with the former tenant farmers paying back the capital over 68 years. This was managed by the Land Commission, along with ancillary work such as compiling statistics. Valuations were reckoned on a years purchase (Y.P.) basis, the price being a multiple of (perhaps 16 times) the annual rent, instead of the
329:. In 1983, the Commission ceased acquiring land; this signified the start of the end of the commission's reform of Irish land ownership, though freehold transfers of farmland still had to be signed off by the Commission into the 1990s. The Lands Section of the Department of Agriculture was seen as an overgrown entity, employing 750 people in 1983; its budget of
220:(the CDB). Provision was made for compulsory purchase of land owned by a non-Irish citizen. Untenanted land could now be compulsorily purchased and divided out to local families; this was applied unevenly across the State, with some large estates surviving if the owners could show that their land was being actively farmed.
537:
Abolished by the Irish Free State (Consequential
Provisions) Act 1922, second schedule part III; re-established by the Land Act 1923, section 2.—(1): "Notwithstanding the provisions of Part III. of the Second Schedule to the Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1922, whereby the office of
358:
of certain functions of the commission and the four lay commissioners, mainly to allow for the disposal of land on hand and for the continuation of controls in the purchase of land by non-qualified persons; the transfer to the
Minister of all land and other property vested in the commission, with the
297:
system, as longer arrangements could cause an owner to lose his farm by compulsory purchase by the Land
Commission. While there were now some 300,000 Irish landowners compared to several thousand in the late nineteenth-century, the basic term for the use of land had reverted to the norm of the 1860s,
127:
By 1908 the emerging problem was whether the new owners would be economically viable on their small farms. Michael McDonnell commented, "The breaking up of the grazing lands, which in many instances the landlords are keeping back from the market, has not met with much success under the Act, and it is
23:
was created by the
British crown in 1843 to "inquire into the occupation of the land in Ireland. The office of the commission was in Dublin Castle, and the records were, on its conclusion, deposited in the records tower there, from whence they were transferred in 1898 to the Public Record Office". It
317:
allowed for investment within the EEC by any citizen of an EEC member state. This naturally undermined the ethos of the Land
Commission, which had processed a further 807,000 acres (3,270 km) since 1923. By the early 1970s, half of open market land purchases were by non-farmers, and half of
131:
It was realised by now that existing rural poverty arose from small farm sizes, yet the procedures and limits of the Acts also tended to keep farm sizes down. The aim had been to create "peasant proprietors" owning what were usually small farms. By definition, the activists in the 1880s Land War
349:
The Bill is designed to give statutory effect to the position which has obtained since 1983. In short, the Bill provides for the dissolution of the Land
Commission; the revocation of the power of the State to take over land, except by exchange, for land settlement purposes; the transfer to the
246:
The commission, whilst often regarded as the champion of land ownership for those who used it, and social justice, was not without controversy. In particular its subdivision of land into uneconomic units has had a lasting effect, as well as the destruction of fine landlords' residences such as
264:
reports from the 1920s to the 1960s frequently include questions about the division of former estates, and the acquisition of land with public finance on favourable terms for constituents via the Land
Commission was understood as a way for politicians to gain electoral support.
231:
lamented that there were already: "250,000 occupiers of uneconomic holdings, the holdings of such a valuation as did not permit of a decent livelihood for the owners". Despite this, his government continued to subdivide larger landholdings, primarily to gain electoral support.
187:
on 6 December 1922, with
Northern Ireland remaining within the United Kingdom. The Land Commission files for Northern Ireland were separated, allowing for the Land Commission to be re-established in and for the Free State in 1923 as if it had never been abolished.
341:. Civil servants working for the Land Commission were reassigned to work on related matters. The Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act 1992 gave the Minister for Agriculture the power to formally dissolve the commission. In proposing this legislation, Minister
298:
with no rights to renew a lease and no incentive to improve rented land. By 1980, some 860,000 acres (3,500 km) in the state were rented annually under conacre, suggesting a new imbalance between mere ownership and the more active farmers. The cost of
255:
with
Government approval. As farming became more mechanized from the 1930s, foreign investment in commercial farms was discouraged, reducing overall farm output. Often the buyers found it hard to earn enough to live a good life, as found in the poems of
128:
difficult to see how compulsion is to be avoided if the country is to be saved from the economically disastrous position of having established in it a number of occupying owners on tenancies which are not large enough to secure to them a living wage."
89:
277:
and coalition cabinets consistently argued for larger farms to be encouraged, instead of sponsoring new small farmers that often had too little capital, skills or enthusiasm. This was successfully opposed for social and political reasons by
338:
538:
Commissioner of the Irish Land
Commission ceased to exist as from the transfer date, the Irish Land Commission shall be deemed to have had since the transfer date continuous corporate existence in Saorstát Eireann …"
150:
In 1915, Chief Secretary Birrell confirmed in Parliament that all Irish land transfers from 1885 to the end of 1914 had cost the British Government ÂŁ91,768,450, and the tenants had invested a further ÂŁ1,584,516.
123:
method used today. The commission had to supervise the haggling process and find the fairest multiple for every transfer. The loans issued by the government were resold in the capital markets as Land Bonds.
112:
239:
from 1933 to 1938, and was mutually resolved by a one-off payment of ÂŁ10m to Britain in 1938. From 1932 the government argued strongly that Irish farmers should no longer be obliged for
200:
in 1925, and the activities of the Land Commission were finally abolished in 1935. Some remaining tenants who had chosen not to exercise their right to buy their farms formed the
180:
70:
857:
243:
to pay Britain for Irish land, but when Britain had passed out of the payment system it still required farmers to continue to pay their annuities to it as before.
326:
309:
The Lands Act 1965 was passed to restrict new foreign investment in agriculture, some of which was speculatively based upon the Ireland's planned entry into the
372:
355:
235:
The Land Act 1933, passed on a vote of 70–39, allowed the Minister for Finance to divert the annuities for local government projects. This was a factor in the
867:
862:
171:
as Minister for Home Affairs, and approved a decree stating that all claims to land should not be adjudicated on until after the end of the war.
476:
54:(the Ashbourne Act), the Commission developed into a tenant-purchasing commission and assisted in the agreed transfer of freehold farmland from
333:
15m included IRÂŁ8m for administration costs and only IRÂŁ7m for actual land purchase or division. Further purchases were suspended that year by
78:
67:
217:
164:
51:
707:
314:
201:
108:
852:
620:"Private Business. – Treaty (Confirmation of Amending Agreement) Bill, 1925—second Stage (Resumed) – Dáil Éireann (4th Dáil)"
602:
376:
388:
354:
of the jurisdictions vested in the Office of the judicial commissioner and in the appeal tribunal; the transfer to the
495:
351:
310:
136:
101:
25:
227:
as land annuities, accruing in a Land Purchase Fund. This was fixed at ÂŁ250,000 annually in 1925. In December 1925
160:
74:
441:
143:, allowed for tenanted land purchase where the owner was unwilling to sell, to be bought by the commission by
360:
82:
768:
598:
619:
299:
400:
829:
236:
183:
abolished many all-island offices, including the Land Commissioners, effective from the creation of the
466:
Ireland and the Home Rule Movement, Michael F. J. McDonnell, 1908; chapter 4 on Land Policy, page 77.
342:
334:
216:
by the Land Law (Commission) Act 1923, backdated to the state's creation. The Act also dissolved the
120:
597:
Land Law (Commission) Act 1923, s. 2: Confirmation of powers of the Irish Land Commission (
144:
45:
682:
656:
512:
465:
833:
812:
804:
606:
303:
224:
96:
The Commission eventually transferred 13.5 million acres (55,000 km) by 1920. Following the
279:
116:
786:
573:
548:
240:
140:
825:
657:"Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers – Bond Estate, County Longford – Dáil Éireann (8th Dáil)"
287:
257:
252:
213:
197:
184:
59:
499:
405:
368:
248:
168:
97:
325:
By the 1980s, just before its reform, the Land Commission was a body responsible to the
293:
Under the 1923 Act, busier farmers had to rent extra land under an 11-month or seasonal
513:"Claims To Land—dairy, Agricultural And Residential Holdings – Dáil Éireann (1st Dáil)"
488:
283:
274:
228:
104:
29:
846:
32:). For a century it was the body responsible for re-distributing farmland in most of
683:"Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers – Mayo Land Division – Dáil Éireann (15th Dáil)"
644:
73:, was funded initially with ÂŁ5,000,000, and was designed to avert support for the
393:
330:
88:
808:
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in 1999. Most of the remaining liabilities and assets were transferred to the
492:
359:
exception of fishing rights and fisheries which will be transferred to the
319:
63:
55:
824:
Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act 1992 (Commencement) Order 1999 (
294:
261:
33:
66:
that had started in 1879. It was rapidly enacted by the government of
389:
Commons statement on the practicalities of land purchase, July 1919
87:
163:
in the early 1920s, some farms were seized, and in June 1920 the
708:
Land distribution policy 1940-70; 2001 essay by David Seth Jones
487:ÂŁ93 million in 1914 was worth about ÂŁ69 billion by 2005, given
24:
took on the role of a rent fixing commission in 1881 under the
769:"Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Bill 1989: Second Stage"
363:; and the payment of compensation to the lay commissioners.
828:). Signed on 30 March 1999. Statutory Instrument of the
574:"Northern Ireland Land Purchase (Winding Up) Act 1935"
318:
those were to buy small sites, typically for building
742:
NESC report no. 27 "New farm operators 1971 to 1975"
223:
From 1923, the amounts outstanding were paid to the
181:
Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act 1922
375:. Many relevant historical records are held by the
77:, given the larger number of voters allowed by the
339:Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture
135:The Irish Land Act 1909, fostered by the Liberal
803:; Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act 1992 (
762:
760:
347:
787:"Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act 1992"
8:
807:). Enacted on 11 November 1992. Act of the
81:, before the IPP entered an alliance with
394:Connaught landed estates on-line database
212:The commission was reconstituted in the
751:
730:
718:
601:). Enacted on 24 July 1923. Act of the
433:
302:requires larger farm sizes to generate
175:1922–23: abolition and re-establishment
62:. This was a response to the turbulent
858:Agriculture in the Republic of Ireland
401:"Records of the Irish Land Commission"
79:Representation of the People Act 1884
36:. It was formally abolished in 1999.
7:
313:, which occurred in 1973. The EEC's
52:Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885
282:, and in coalition governments by
14:
868:1999 disestablishments in Ireland
767:O'Kennedy, Michael (2 May 1989).
373:Minister for Agriculture and Food
356:Minister for Agriculture and Food
345:explained the bill's provisions:
100:of December 1902 arranged by the
549:"Northern Ireland Land Act 1925"
109:Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903
92:Irish Land League poster, 1880s
863:1885 establishments in Ireland
269:Policy changes and dissolution
1:
645:Land Act 1933 debate and vote
202:Unbought Tenants' Association
196:The Land Acts were varied in
167:debated a motion proposed by
16:Public body from 1843 to 1999
377:National Archives of Ireland
352:President of the High Court
311:European Economic Community
137:Chief Secretary for Ireland
102:Chief Secretary for Ireland
26:Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881
884:
793:. Oireachtas. 2 March 1989
399:Fitzsimons, Fiona (2014).
43:
28:(also known as the second
418:Maguire, Desmond (1983).
327:Department of Agriculture
273:From 1940, a minority in
218:Congested Districts Board
161:Irish War of Independence
75:Irish Parliamentary Party
71:The Marquess of Salisbury
687:Houses of the Oireachtas
661:Houses of the Oireachtas
624:Houses of the Oireachtas
517:Houses of the Oireachtas
498:19 January 2008 at the
361:Central Fisheries Board
83:William Ewart Gladstone
853:Land reform in Ireland
365:
300:agricultural machinery
93:
832:. Retrieved from
830:Government of Ireland
811:. Retrieved from
605:. Retrieved from
477:Birrell February 1915
237:Anglo-Irish Trade War
91:
21:Irish Land Commission
599:No. 27 of 1923, s. 2
422:. Dublin: Agribooks.
121:discounted cash flow
111:was steered through
826:S.I. No. 75 of 1999
773:Dáil Éireann debate
145:compulsory purchase
46:Land Acts (Ireland)
834:Irish Statute Book
813:Irish Statute Book
626:. 10 December 1925
607:Irish Statute Book
578:Legislation.gov.uk
553:Legislation.gov.uk
489:currency inflation
446:virtualtreasury.ie
304:economies of scale
225:British government
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689:. 9 February 1955
491:in the meantime (
343:Michael O'Kennedy
155:1920: Dáil decree
141:Augustine Birrell
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288:Clann na Talmhan
286:, the leader of
258:Patrick Kavanagh
253:Shanbally Castle
241:historic reasons
214:Irish Free State
198:Northern Ireland
192:Northern Ireland
185:Irish Free State
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406:History Ireland
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383:Further reading
369:came into force
280:Éamon de Valera
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208:Irish Land Acts
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177:
169:Arthur Griffith
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117:William O'Brien
98:Land Conference
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519:. 29 June 1920
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105:George Wyndham
68:Prime Minister
44:Main article:
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30:Irish Land Act
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775:. oireachtas.
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754:, p. 32.
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795:. Retrieved
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731:Maguire 1983
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719:Maguire 1983
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691:. Retrieved
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663:. 1 May 1934
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628:. Retrieved
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40:UK Land Acts
20:
18:
442:"StackPath"
275:Fianna Fáil
159:During the
847:Categories
809:Oireachtas
693:17 January
667:17 January
630:17 January
603:Oireachtas
583:17 January
558:17 January
523:16 January
113:Parliament
50:Under the
797:15 August
493:See this)
320:bungalows
85:in 1886.
496:Archived
367:The act
64:Land War
56:landlord
451:27 June
295:conacre
34:Ireland
260:. The
107:, the
60:tenant
791:Bills
428:Notes
799:2018
695:2021
669:2021
632:2021
585:2021
560:2021
525:2021
453:2022
413:(1).
262:Dáil
251:and
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165:Dáil
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115:by
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
