Irish Land Commission

The Irish Land Commission (or simply "Land Commission") was created in 1881 as a rent fixing commission by the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881, also known as the second Irish Land Act.

UK Acts

With the Ashbourne Act 1885 the commission developed into a tenant-purchasing commission and assisted in the agreed transfer of freehold farmland from landlord to tenant. This was a response to the turbulent Land War that had started in 1879. It was rapidly enacted by the government of Lord Salisbury, was funded initially with £5,000,000, and was designed to avert support for the Irish Parliamentary Party, given the larger number of voters allowed by the Reform Act 1884, before the IPP entered its alliance with William Gladstone in 1886.

The Commission eventually transferred 13.5 million acres (55,000 km²) by 1920. The 1903 Wyndham Act arranged by George Wyndham (a conservative minister, but also descended from Lord Edward FitzGerald) provided government finance to buy out freeholds, with the former tenant farmers paying back the capital over 40 years. This was managed by the Land Commission, along with ancillary work such as compiling statistics. The loans were resold in the capital markets as "Land Bonds".

Irish Acts

On the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, the Commission was reconstituted by the Land Law (Commission) Act, 1923, [ [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1923/en/act/pub/0027/index.html Land Law (Commission) Act, 1923] ] , which also dissolved the Congested Districts Board. Provision was made for compulsory purchase of land owned by a non-Irish person until repealed in 1966. Untenanted land could now be compulsorily purchased and divided out to local families; this was applied unevenly across the country, with some large estates surviving if the owners could show that their land was being actively farmed.

From 1923 the amounts outstanding were paid to the British government as "land annuities", accruing in a Land Purchase Fund. This was fixed at £250,000 annually in 1925. The Land Act 1933, passed on a vote of 70-39, allowed the Minister for Finance to divert the money for local government projects. [ [http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0046/D.0046.193303160008.html Land Act 1933 debate and vote] ] This was a factor that caused the "Economic war" in 1933-38, and was mutually resolved by a one-off payment of £10m. to Britain in 1938. From 1932 the government argued strongly that Irish farmers should no longer be obliged for historic reasons to pay Britain for Irish land, but when Britain had passed out of the payment system it illogically still required farmers to continue to pay their annuities to it as before.

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 commission was dissolved on March 31, 1999 by the Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act, 1992 [ [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1992/en/act/pub/0025/index.html Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act, 1992] ] and most of the remaining liabilities and assets were transferred to the Minister for Agriculture and Food. Many relevant historical records are held by the National Archives of Ireland.

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 Monellan Castle and Shanbally Castle 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 Patrick Kavanagh. The Dáil 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. [ [http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0052/D.0052.193405010014.html Dáil Éireann - Volume 52 - 01 May, 1934 - Questions. Oral Answers.] ] [ [http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0148/D.0148.195502090022.html Dáil Éireann - Volume 148 - 09 February, 1955 - Questions. Oral Answers.] ]

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