A statutory obligation requiring the State to enter negotiations with land owners prior to exercising its compulsory acquisition powers should not be introduced.

This controversial proposal is one of a raft of recommendations included in a draft document compiled by the Law Reform Commission on the compulsory purchase of land.

It is part of an ongoing review of the compulsory purchase order (CPO) process.

The Law Reform Commission document, which has been seen by the Irish Farmers Journal, recommends that “a statutory obligation should not be introduced requiring an acquiring authority to enter negotiations prior to exercising its compulsory acquisition powers”.

It also proposed that third parties – those who have not been served with a compulsory purchase notification or do not have an interest in the land being compulsorily acquired - should not be permitted to object to a compulsory purchase notification.

One CPO system should exist for all interests in land

However, the commission concedes that any member of the public should be permitted to object to a CPO where the grant of such an order will result in “extinguishing a public right of way.”

Moreover, the commission recommends that the confirming authority in the CPO process “may disregard objections exclusively related to compensation.”

All land should be compulsorily acquirable, in principle, except for State-owned ground, according to the proposals.

“The commission recommends that State land should not be compulsorily acquirable,” the draft document states.

It also calls for a standardised system when evaluating and considering CPOs.

Different schemes

“There should not be different schemes depending on the type of property or the individual circumstances of the owner. One CPO system should exist for all interests in land,” the commission document states.

Regarding the appeals process, the commission recommends that the judicial review procedures that currently apply to confirmations by An Bord Pleanála should be extended to judicial review of any compulsory purchase order (CPO) made under a revised CPO code.

In addition, the commission asserts that the definition of land should be extended to include “minerals and other substances in the substratum below the surface”, as well as land covered by water and the airspace above land.

In correspondence with various stakeholders, the Law Reform Commission has stressed that the draft recommendations are still “a work in progress” and that they “may be subject to change”.

It is also understood that the commission is considering other aspects of the CPO process, such as compensation and arbitration between the parties where compensation cannot be agreed.

Recommendations regarding these issues are expected to be circulated to the various stakeholders at a later date.