(Cavan): asked the Minister for Justice the average time taken by the Land Registry to issue land registry maps over the last 12 months; the reason for the long delays; and if he will take steps to have the maps issued promptly.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Registry Maps.
39.
The average time taken to issue copy maps over the last 12 months has been seven to eight weeks. The reasons for the delay are (1) an increase of 20 per cent in the number of applications received as compared with the previous 12 months, (2) the continuing difficulty of recruiting and maintaining an adequate staff, and (3) the necessity, under the Land Registration Rules 1966, to issue, in many cases, 25" scale maps which entails the enlargement of existing maps from 6" to 25".
Priority continues to be given to applications of an urgent nature.
I have arranged for a critical examination of the organisation and procedures in the Registry as the provision of a prompt and efficient service is one of my top priorities. In the meantime in view of the delay in recruiting permanent mapping staff, I have arranged for the making, as a matter of urgency, of temporary appointments to fill vacancies. The response to recent newspaper advertisements for temporary mapping draughtsmen is very encouraging.
(Cavan): Does the Minister appreciate that in many cases there is up to six months delay and that the hold up is causing unnecessary delay in subdivision and consequently in the payment of housing loans and housing grants? Will the Minister try to arrange that where a map is required in connection with a housing loan it will get priority?
I do not accept the six months suggestion by the Deputy. I know there are delays and I am certainly dissatisfied with the mapping section. I have, in fact, set up a special committee to re-examine the whole of the Land Registry procedures. It was discovered that one of the bottlenecks occurred in the mapping section and I have given the Deputy the reasons why this bottleneck has built up. Evidently it has been very difficult to get these mappers or draughtsmen but we have been having much more success recently with our advertisements. I have already arranged to give priority to urgent cases which cover the type of case mentioned by the Deputy. I am just as anxious as the Deputy to cut down this time-lag as quickly as possible.
Has the Minister ever considered using photography for the reproduction of these maps?
Shortly after I assumed the office of Minister for Justice I set up, as I have already said, a special working party to examine the whole procedure and I asked them to have a look at what was being done in Northern Ireland and in England and to take due note of any machinery in operation there.
As usual Fianna Fáil are ten years behind the time.
I do not accept that at all.
Twenty years.
The country does.
There will be a day to deal with that and the Deputy will not be here.
Soon we will not have any members of the Government in the House.
(Interruptions.)