Vol. 509 No. 6
540 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of transactions in arrears and awaiting registration at the end of 1988 and 1998; the length of time on average it takes to register a title or a plot of ground; and the length of time it takes from the time of application to obtain a land certificate. [21831/99]
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.
The Deputy might be interested to note 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: arrears of dealings, namely, applications for registration, which represent the main category of work of the Land Registry, were at 32,332 and 51,554 at the end of 1988 and – 1998 respectively; and on average, it currently takes 7.9 months to complete a dealing and register a plot of ground in the Land Registry, and 1.2 months to issue a land certificate.
