asked the Minister for Justice the progress made to date in the preparation of legislation for the abolition of ground rents.

The legislation to prevent the creation of future ground rents on dwellinghouses will be contained in the same Bill as, and must be harmonised with, proposals for many other changes in landlord and tenant law that arise in the main from the work of the Landlord and Tenant Commission. The drafting of a comprehensive Bill is now all but completed and I expect very shortly to be in a position to seek the authority of the Government to present the Bill to this House and to circulate it.