Ground rents — a feudal system still in place

NOW that the referendum and elections are over, I am writing to the party leaders on behalf of the ACRA Ground Rents Sub-Committee concerning the unfinished business of legislation to rid our community of ground rent.

ACRA the national body for residents' associations has campaigned on this issue since 1973. The legislation won in 1978 did not abolish existing ground rents; it prevented the creation of new ones.

The FF election promise of 1977 to abolish ground rents has never been honoured. In particular, the evil of expired and expiring leases has never been tackled. This has brought personal anxiety and loss to hundreds of householders still subjected by law to a feudal ground rent code. It is also a monument to the neglect by successive government. This has been highlighted once again by the recent report of the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution. Will this report suffer the same fate as the Kenny Report on Building Land presented in 1973?