Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jan 2001

Vol. 529 No. 1

Written Answers. - Land Registry Transactions.

Michael Ring

Question:

1007 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will ascertain the backlog of transactions in the Land Registry office, giving details on a monthly basis, for the past 12 months for each region. [1244/01]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

The information sought by the Deputy in relation to dealings awaiting attention in the Land Registry is set out in the tabular statement as follows.

	Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4	Region 5	Region 6	Region 7
January	17,297	13,178	12,167	6,836	13,862	4,394	8,494
February	17,767	13,403	11,987	7,140	14,287	4,862	8,687
March	19,045	15,568	13,901	7,565	15,373	5,349	9,141
April	22,822	20,595	17,594	9,969	18,616	7,550	10,655
May	23,282	20,414	18,659	10,025	18,783	7,679	11,020
June	23,216	21,583	18,614	9,588	18,807	7,682	10,866
July	24,137	21,914	18,639	10,501	19,309	8,280	10,843
August	23,875	22,843	18,802	10,261	19,178	8,700	10,797
September	25,078	24,294	19,117	10,847	20,146	8,006	10,469
October	25,173	25,057	19,497	10,628	20,253	7,429	10,127
November	25,050	26,219	20,613	10,570	20,741	7,294	9,865
December	25,150	25,387	21,164	10,939	19,912	7,637	10,319

As the Deputy will be aware, arising out of the current buoyancy in the economy, the intake of applications in the Land Registry and the Registry of Deeds continues to grow at an unprecedented level with each successive year setting new record levels. The total intake of new cases for the year 2000 amounted to 161,844. This represents an increase of 29,485 over the 1999 intake.

In addition to the increase in property transactions, major infrastructural projects undertaken by the bodies responsible for systems and utilities e.g. Bord Gáis, ESB, Coillte, National Roads Authority, Bord na Móna etc. have also placed considerable strain on the Registry's ability to provide essential services. In the circumstances, the staff in the Land Registry have worked very hard to give the best possible service to their customers.

The Deputy will be aware that, in order to address this problem, I received sanction from my colleague, the Minister for Finance, to increase the staffing compliment of the Land Registry by 77. The resultant appointments are currently being made following a recruitment drive by the Civil Service Commission which is now beginning to pay dividends.

I can assure the Deputy that every effort is being made by the management and staff of the Land Registry to address the problems which have developed over a period of time, mainly due to the unprecedented increase in the levels of business. The Land Registry management are implementing some proactive measures to help deal with the situation. These include improvements to workflow, the training and development of staff, the use of new technology, the launch of an e-commerce service and the computerised data capture of folios and maps.

I am confident that, with the appointment of additional staff and the programme of measures being taken, the situation will improve shortly.