asked the Minister for Justice if, in view of the delays experienced in the central Land Registry office, he will give immediate consideration to the establishment of a Land Registry office in Cork to serve the needs of the southern region of the country.
Written Answers. - Land Registry Decentralisation.
149.
The question of the possible decentralisation or regionalisation of the Land Registry is under consideration in my Department at present.
I cannot agree that there are undue delays in processing applications in the Land Registry. The main registration work of the Land Registry is in the area of dealings in registered land, where the volume of applications this year is expected to be about 88,000. The average time taken in processing those cases is now less than two months.
Delays occur mainly in applications for first registration or where complex legal issues arise which often involve extensive correspondence with solicitors. However, these applications represent in volume only about 5 per cent of all applications for registration.
The Land Registry also issues about 135,000 copy maps, copy folios, copy instruments and land certificates annually. The average time taken for the issue of copy maps is nine days and in the case of copy folios, copy instruments and land certificates, less than one week.