asked the Minister for Justice the reasons that direct cash purchase facilities are not available in provincial Land Registry offices, for both search and map services etc.; if he will take immediate action to alleviate this discrimination; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Registry Procedure.
The Land Registration Fees Order, 1983, provides for the payment for such services by cash. I am having inquiries made to establish to what extent that facility is not being made available and the reasons. I will write to the Deputy about the matter as soon as inquiries have been completed.
I want to inform the Minister that in provincial areas the documentation that is normally available here in Land Registry headquarters is not available. I would ask him to examine the situation vis-à-vis each county in which there is a Land Registry office.
I accept that the only way we can establish the full extent of the difficulty — and I accept that the difficulty is there — is by contacting the county registrars. That is in course at the moment and when I have concluded that examination I will come back to the Deputy with the information that is required.
We should decentralise the whole system.
It is only centralising. That is the problem.