asked the Minister for Justice if he will increase the number of staff employed in the Land Registry in view of the deterioration of service as a result of the embargo on Civil Service recruitment; and if he will make an exception regarding recruitment in so far as the Land Registry is concerned in view of the following: (1) in answer to a question in the Oireachtas in December 1984 he stated that the staff in the Land Registry was 14 per cent lower than when the embargo was introduced in 1981 and that the amount of work dealt with was 9 per cent higher than that in 1980; (2) that, unlike the public service in general, the Land Registry is required by law under the Registration of Title Act, 1964, to be self-financing: (3) that there have been two Fees Orders increasing fees, some by substantial amounts, during the last few years, when staff numbers were actually decreasing; (4) that the necessary increase in staff, in that event, need cost the Exchequer nothing; and (5) that the increase in employment would ensure a more effective operation in the Land Registry, be of great benefit to the public and achieve the objective of the 1977 reorganisation in the Land Registry which reduced average delays for ordinary dealings from six to two and a half months.
76.
