asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware of the time-wasting procedure in the Office of the Registrar of Friendly Societies whereby on payment of a one shilling search fee by a member of the public to one official another official takes the shilling and a form to other officials in other parts of the building to obtain a receipt and that this procedure involves over a quarter of a man-hour and exceeds the value of 1/-; and if he will either modify the system or abolish the one shilling search fee.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Friendly Societies Search Fees.
30.
Mr. Ryan
The Deputy complained last year (Column 743, Volume 182, No. 6) that callers had to go to one room to pay a fee and another room to inspect the Register and the present arrangement of having a messenger take the fee to the cashier was introduced to meet that complaint. The work is done by the staff in the ordinary course of their duties and calculations such as the Deputy has made are of no relevance to the amount of the fee. The purpose of the fee, which is nominal, is to ensure that the service is used only by bona-fide enquirers. I do not propose to abolish the fee.