Seanad report: Under proposed changes in legislation, permission from Croke Park could be needed for the sale of GAA grounds held by local trusts around the country, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Ms Coughlan, said.
Up to 500 such trusts existed, she told the House, when she opened the Second Stage debate on the Land Bill 2004. Almost half were used by local GAA and other sports clubs. In the case of the sporting trusts because the sporting organisations did not own the property, they were reluctant to commit to significant development of, or investment in, the trust property.
The Bill should greatly facilitate the legal transfer of these lands from trust to actual user ownership, which should allow greater development of these sporting and other local amenity facilities and ultimately benefit the whole community. She believed there might be as many as 200 trusts interested in availing of this measure.
Mr Fergal Browne (FG) asked if the Bill included any guarantees to ensure that GAA clubs or other sporting organisations could not sell lands off for a quick buck. There should be safeguards against this by the inclusion of a time clause, he urged.
Ms Coughlan said that when the trusteeship in GAA grounds was vested in Croke Park, trustees there would have to give permission before grounds could be sold. She said one of the Bill's main aims was to encourage farmers who still had outstanding land purchase annuities to take the final step towards fully owning their land,
Mr Noel Coonan (FG) said his party would be tabling amendments to improve the Bill.
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Mr Tom Morrissey (PD) said it was "outlandish" that the chief executive of Aer Lingus had been kept waiting three months for the Government to consider his investment proposals. Insisting that there should be an early debate on the airline's future, he said they had witnessed the spectacle of chief executive Mr Willie Walsh being politically mugged at an Oireachtas committee meeting this week. Representatives of various parties had vied with each other to "cosy up" to the unions.
Mr Walsh had stated that the airline industry was heading for crisis. He had also disclosed that he had withdrawn his investment proposal. "The Government, as major shareholder, has a responsibility to the taxpayer, and for Willie Walsh to have to continue managing a business in such a competitive environment, waiting for its major shareholder to give a decision, is outlandish."
Mr Morrissey said he wanted the new Minister for Transport to come to the House and address this subject urgently.
Leader of the House Ms Mary O'Rourke said in her view it would take a lot to mug Mr Walsh. "He's fit for doing the mugging and therefore if he is, he should get it back. I think he is well able to make his case."
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Rather than scapegoat individual gardaí following the findings of the Morris tribunal, the Government should progress the Bill to provide for the kind of inquiries the Northern Ireland ombudsman could undertake into allegations of police corruption, Mr Brian Hayes, Fine Gael leader in the House, said.
Referring to the decision to dismiss Kevin Lennon, Mr Hayes said tribunals into allegations of Garda corruption would not be needed if this jurisdiction had a Nuala O'Loan and the powers her office had in Northern Ireland.