asked the Minister for Justice where it is proposed to accommodate the additional personnel required by the Land Registry pending completion of the extension to the Registry building.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Registry.
38.
It is proposed, by making the most effective use possible of available space, including the recently-completed extension, to accommodate the additional personnel in the existing Land Registry building for the time being. At the same time I am arranging for temporary additional accommodation as near as possible to the office.
Was not the extension to which the Minister refers built to store records and not human beings?
We are building additional extensions, as the Deputy knows, at the present time.
Yes, but there are people using the place.
I grant you, as a temporary measure, we have to do this. It is purely temporary.
It is not fit for people to work in it. It is a record room, not a working room.
39.
asked the Minister for Justice if he will state, with reference to a reply of 3rd November last, the number of legal assistants recently appointed in the Land Registry on a temporary basis, the number of legal assistant posts in respect of which a competition will be held, the number of vacancies in clerical grades recently filled, the additional number of clerks which it is intended to take on, the number of vacancies in the mapping grades, and when competitions to fill them will be held.
The number of legal assistants recently appointed on a temporary basis is eight; the number of posts in respect of which a competition is being held is eight.
The number of vacancies in clerical grades recently filled was ten and the additional number of clerical staff which it is intended to take on to deal with the growth in current work is six.
There are eight vacancies in the mapping draughtsman grade. The competition to fill these vacancies is proceeding at the moment.
40.
asked the Minister for Justice if, having regard to the frequency with which the public are unable to inspect Land Registry folios because of their non-availability and the delays in making them available, he will state what steps will be taken to remedy the matter.
I do not accept that the public are frequently inconvenienced to any undue extent by the non-availability of folios for inspection or by delays in making them available.
Does the Minister consider it reasonable that people should have to wait an hour for folios to reach the counter, which is not an infrequent experience in the Land Registry?
I do not agree with that at all.
Whereas, in the Registry of Deeds, people can search back for decades in a matter of minutes, in the Land Registry, it may take an hour or perhaps several individual calls before a folio is produced in order to search what happened in the previous week.
We are taking on additional staff.
The Minister ought to stand behind the counter some day and see what happens there. It is chaotic.
41.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of transactions and the number of staff in the Land Registry in each of the past ten years.
The answer is in the form of a tabular statement which, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to circulate with the Official Report.
I should like to make it clear that the figures for transactions given in the statement are simple global figures and do not necessarily reflect the proportionate adjustment in staff strength required to discharge them.
Following is the statement:
|
Year |
Number of transactions |
Number of staff serving on 1st January in each year |
|
1956 |
59,382 |
136 |
|
1957 |
54,511 |
133 |
|
1958 |
56,033 |
129 |
|
1959 |
58,224 |
129 |
|
1960 |
57,916 |
137 |
|
1961 |
57,572 |
136 |
|
1962 |
61,513 |
143 |
|
1963 |
61,953 |
147 |
|
1964 |
66,647 |
154 |
|
1965 |
67,508 |
163 |
42.
asked the Minister for Justice the reason for the Land Registry's opening to the public daily half an hour later than the Registry of Deeds; and, if having regard to the proposed transfer to the Land Registry of much of the business hitherto handled by the Registry of Deeds, steps will be taken to open the Land Registry at 10 a.m. daily for the convenience of the public.
The reason is that, whereas in the Registry of Deeds all memorials for registration must be lodged by hand, dealings may be lodged in the Land Registry by hand or by post. Dealings must be dealt with in the order in which they are received and, accordingly, it is necessary to ensure that dealings received by post each day in the Land Registry are given precedence over dealings lodged by hand on that day. This can be achieved only by allowing sufficient time each morning to deal with the incoming post and to record the dealings contained therein before accepting dealings lodged by hand.
May Dublin solicitors lodge their dealings through the post?
Now we get to the heart of the matter.
May Dublin solicitors lodge their dealings through the post?
Yes, of course.