Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 19 Oct 1999

Vol. 509 No. 4

Written Answers. - Registration of Title.

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

321 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the waiting time for the processing of a land registry dealing on a county basis; the plans, if any, he has to reduce the delays in processing dealings in the Land Registry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20635/99]

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

322 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of dealings received by the Land Registry in each of the years 1991, 1996, 1997 and to date in 1999; the number of dealings completed in each of those years; the staffing levels in the Land Registry in each of those years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20636/99]

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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 321 and 322 together.

I refer the Deputy to my replies to Questions Nos. 756 of 29 September 1999 and 86 of 12 October 1999.

As the Deputy will, no doubt, be aware, arising out of the buoyancy in the economy and the current high level of activity in the housing market the number of dealings being lodged with, and the level of business being transacted by, the Land Registry has been increasing steadily for some years now and has been subject to unprecedented increases in recent years.

In this light I am pleased to be able to report that significant efficiencies have been generated by the registries. For example, overall output of applications for registration has increased by 20 per cent. This is a significant achievement and I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the staff of the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds for their efforts in this regard.

I have indicated that my Department has written to the Department of Finance making a strong case for the allocation of additional staff to deal with the increase in the level of business in the Land Registry. Urgent discussions are currently being held between the two Departments in relation to this issue.

That said, the specific data requested by the Deputy is as follows:

Waiting Time for processing a Land Registry Dealing

County	Waiting time in weeks
Carlow	65
Cavan	26
Clare	42
Cork	50
Donegal	28
Dublin	18
Galway	59
Kerry	41
Kildare	17
Kilkenny	65
Laois	62
Leitrim	28
Limerick	26
Longford	28
Louth	26
Mayo	60
Meath	24
Monaghan	26
Offaly	62
Roscommon	42
Sligo	60
Tipperary	62
Waterford	26
Westmeath	24
Wexford	65
Wicklow	17

Year	DealingsReceived	DealingsCompleted	Authorised Staffing in Registries*
1991	86,474	89,554	533
1996	114,024	119,395	525***
1997	120,301	121,803	525***
1999**	86,622	71,726	525***

*includes the Registry of Deeds

**1999 figures are to the end of August

***excludes number of overlap staff for decentralisation and approximately 30 supernumerary staff.