Having proposed amendments to address this issue, Senator Higgins recently introduced a Bill to the Seanad to extend the deadline and the Government have now proposed their own legislation.
The Government’s ‘Land and Conveyancing Bill 2021’ will be debated in the Seanad on Tuesday and Thursday this week and will face a tight timeframe to pass all stages before the November 30th ‘cliff
edge’.
Senator Higgins has welcomed the “just-in-time” legislation from Government:
“This Government Bill will remove many of the requirements on registering a prescriptive easement or private right of way which were introduced in the 2009 law, including the cliff-edge deadline of
November 30th. Having previously proposed amendments and legislation to address this issue I am glad the Government have listened to my arguments and to the very strong concerns expressed by the Law Society, the Bar Council, the Irish Farmers Association and many others in every part of Ireland.”
“Removing the deadline is essential to avoid massive legal confusion and protect rights of way, many of which have been used for generations. It is also important from a heritage, accessibility, and community perspective. There is a real potential to strengthen and reimagine these rights of way in the future as part of a network of connectivity in rural and urban Ireland and I will continue to engage with the Department, the Law Reform Commission and others around the next steps for law
and policy on rights of way.”