asked the Minister for Justice the basis upon which the estimate for travelling and incidental expenses of the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds for 1985 is 201 per cent more than the provisional outturn for the same expenses in 1984; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Registry and Registry of Deeds.
34.
(Limerick East): The Revised Estimates for Public Services shows a provision of £214,000 for 1985 under Subhead B.I. of Vote 27 as against a 1984 provisional outturn of £71,000. A breakdown of these figures is given in a table on page 80 of the Revised Estimates. The table shows that the bulk of the increase is accounted for under the sub-headings “Compensation”, which provides for £115,000 as against £5,000, and “Cleaning services, and laundry”, which provides for £47,000 as against £27,000.
"Compensation" in this context is compensation under section 120 of the Registration of Title Act, 1964, for losses sustained, for example, as a result of errors of registration. The increased provision reflects the expected level of awards to be met. Experience so far for 1985 is that an award of £6,500 has been made on foot of one claim and a further claim of £78,000, approximately, plus costs is pending. There are other possible smaller claims in the pipeline.
The increase under "Cleaning services, and laundry", is due to a number of factors including the loss of the Land Registry's services attendant male cleaner post under the embargo on the filling of posts in the Civil Service. As a result, more cleaning work is being done under contract in 1985.