The Deputy may wish to be aware that, in recent years the number of serving County Registrars has been reduced to 17 as a result of re-organisation and the introduction of efficiency measures by the Courts Service. Specifically, the reduction has been made possible by reorganising the work of the courts including the establishment of multi-jurisdictional combined court offices which encompassed the transfer of management functions previously exercised by County Registrars to Courts Service management personnel.
The Courts Service has advised my Department that the position of County Registrar in Sligo has not been filled since the retirement of the previous holder in December 2009. Since then the duties of the County Registrar in Sligo have been exercised by County Registrars from adjoining counties particularly the County Registrar for Donegal. The Courts Service have advised that this arrangement, which also applies in relation to cooperation between County Registrar functions for some other counties, has operated satisfactorily and has not resulted in any diminution of services in Co. Sligo. However I can tell the Deputy that I am currently reviewing issues relating to Country Registrar capacity in conjunction with the Courts Service.