Vol. 504 No. 2
64 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the very significant delays in the Land Registry; his views on whether additional staff are necessary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10262/99]
As the Deputy will be aware the buoyancy of the property market in recent years has resulted in an unprecedented increase in intake of all categories of work in the Land Registry.
To quote a few examples, in 1989 the intake of dealings was 91,381 – in 1994 this figure had increased to 103,145, an increase of 12.9 per cent, and at the end of 1998 the figure was 123,082, an increase of 34.7 per cent over the 1989 figure. The latter figure represents the largest ever intake of dealings into the Land Registry.
I am pleased to note that during the same period output increased from 72,668 in 1989, to 113,108 in 1998, an increase of 55.6 per cent. This is a significant achievement and I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Registrar of Deeds and Titles and her staff for their efforts in this regard.
In the light of the circumstances, my Department has made a case to the Department of Finance for the allocation of additional staff to the Land Registry to deal with this increase in the level of business and discussions in this regard, in the context of current Government policy on Civil Service staffing numbers, are being held between the two Departments at a high level.
