Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 24 Apr 2002

Vol. 552 No. 4

Written Answers. - Registration of Title.

Michael Ring

Ceist:

133 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of applications for folios or file plan and copy instruments pending in the Land Registry Office; and the details on a county and regional basis of the average delays in issuing same. [12695/02]

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

The information required by the Deputy is set out in the following tabular statement.

Table 1 below shows the total number of applications under the headings of Intake and Output for the year 2001 for the categories requested for the entire country:

Table 1

Application type	Intake for 2001	Output for 2001
Copy folio	19,104	19,400
Copy folio and filed plan	154,498	151,034
Copy instrument	6,460	6,216

Table 2 below shows the average daily output, the number on hands and the average delay for each category for the entire country as at 31 March 2002.

Table 2

Application type	Average daily output	Applications pending on 31/03/2002	Average delay
Copy folio	78	385*	5 working days
Copy folio and filed plan	604	9,010*	15 working days
Copy instrument	25	523	23 working days

*In addition to the numbers stated above for copy folios and copy folios and filed plans there are also applications in the Land Registry Office lodged as part of an application for registration, which is still pending, and the new folio has not yet been opened. However, as the folio does not yet exist they cannot yet be counted as cases on hands.

Table 3 below shows the average time taken for each category on a county-regional basis:

Table 3

Region	Copy folios	Copy folios and filed plans	Copy instruments
Dublin	1 working day	10 working days	10 working days
Kildare and Wicklow	2 working days	10 working days	18 working days
Cork and Waterford	8 working days	11 working days	22 working days
Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary	5 working days	10 working days	10 working days
Laois, Offaly, Carlow, Kilkenny and Wexford	5 working days	10 working days	10 working days
Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Clare and Roscommon	8 working days	24 working days	14 working days
Meath, Westmeath, Cavan, Louth, Monaghan, Leitrim and Longford	7 working days	28 working days	8 working days

The Land Registry Office is organised into the seven regions set out in Table 3. Within each region there is no difference in the turnaround times between counties. A number of factors contribute to the variations between regions. These include: (1) the ready availability of original documents for copying and certification. Circumstances that influence this include: the layout in the building from where a county or region is served. In some buildings it is possible to store the original documents adjacent to the area where they are required – this is not possible in others; the level of development of technology for the county; the demand for the service at a given time; the resources to meet that demand at any given time; (2) the quality of the original maps; (3) in the case of filed plans it is significant whether or not a filed plan map already exists. If it does not a copy has to be prepared manually, which delays the overall process; (4) in the case of copy instruments the size and nature of the original instrument is a factor. An instrument can vary in size from a few pages to many thousands of pages. Each page has to be individually copied before it can be certified and issued, which is a very labour-intensive activity; (5) whether the applications are made via the electronic access service or by another method.

The above table provides the "average" time taken for each of the above categories. The figures have been calculated by taking the total number of cases on hands for each category and dividing it by the average daily output in the county-region. It should be noted that, in many cases, the turnaround time is considerably faster and in some, for the reasons outlined above, it can be slower.

The Land Registry Office's electronic access service – EAS – is currently available for 20 counties and will be rolled out to the remaining counties on 29 April 2002. Where applications are made via this system it is much more efficient for the Land Registry Office to process them. The usage of the EAS system, which has been introduced on a gradual basis, is extremely good. Over 3,300 customers have now opened accounts. At present, for the counties where it is available, over 50% of applications are being made elec tronically. In the case of an application for a certified copy folio or a copy folio and filed plan where the folio is held in electronic format and a filed plan already exists, it issues within 48 hours when the application is made via the EAS system. At present, about 25% of the 1.8 million Land Registry Office folios are held in electronic format. It is intended to have all the folios and all the filed plan maps converted to electronic format by the end of 2004.