Mr. John O'Sullivan:

I thank the committee for giving me the opportunity to make my opening remarks and to take part in the discussions on e-conveyancing. I should commence by clarifying that in my current role as Commissioner of Valuation, I do not have any direct involvement in e-conveyancing. However, during a previous stage of my career, between 2003 and 2006, I was a member of a working group established by the Law Reform Commission which examined and reported on e-conveyancing. The committee will be aware that the Government is proceeding with a merger of the Property Registration Authority, Ordnance Survey Ireland and the Valuation Office. The Minister for Justice and Equality, who will be the line Minister, has recently approved Tailte Éireann as the name of the new organisation. As chief executive-designate of that new organisation, I am keenly interested in the e-conveyancing project and look forward to assisting the committee in its consideration of it.

It is envisaged that Tailte Éireann will, when established, be responsible for providing the authoritative national property registration system, the national mapping and surveying infrastructure and State property valuation service. As such, it will be the primary source of property information and location based data in the State and will assume a lead role in the development and delivery of land information services. All of this is, of course, subject to the passage of the establishing legislation through the Oireachtas in due course. I have provided in the appendix to my submission additional briefing material on the prospective future role, vision and mission of the new organisation.

The case for implementing a national system of electronic conveyancing has been well articulated on a number of occasions, most notably in the Law Reform Commission’s report on e-conveyancing, Modelling of the Irish Conveyancing System, published in 2006 and in a Law Society task force document, eConveyancing: Back to Basic Principles, published in March 2008. There are also several reports and studies of the subject in the international domain and there is a general consensus that the introduction of such a system is worthwhile. E-conveyancing has also been considered recently in the Government’s Construction 2020: a Strategy for a Renewed Construction Sector, which was adopted by a Government decision of 16 May 2014. I have included an extract of the relevant part of the Construction 2020 report as an appendix to my submission.

The report concludes that “a system of eConveyancing which harnesses modern technology to assist in the timely transfer of property ownership would provide a more modern, efficient, cost effective and secure system to support transactions in the property market in the future”.

It is appropriate to acknowledge the progress that has been achieved already and the committee will hear this afternoon of the relevant work undertaken by the Property Registration Authority, the Law Society and others. Construction 2020 acknowledges this progress but correctly recognises that “moving to a full eConveyancing system will require a number of further elements over and above existing and planned developments to be put in place”. It identifies, in particular, the need to provide for the secure transmission of communications, the management and disbursement of funds between parties and the creation and management of digital signatures. The report goes on to recognise that future progress “will require representatives of the legal profession, the banking sector and the relevant statutory agencies to work together closely, and could build on work already completed on this issue under the aegis of the Law Society”.

I welcome the commitment to e-conveyancing in Construction 2020 and I believe that this complements the mission of Tailte Éireann and the vision which has been articulated for the new organisation. Location-based, or geo-spatial information as it is sometimes called, is central to the business of both Government and the private sector. One of the roles envisaged for Tailte is in developing and leading the implementation of a national spatial data infrastructure, NSDI. This will result in Tailte co-ordinating the use of such information across Government and establishing and managing the standards behind such information. In line with the Public Service Reform Plan 2014-2016, this will facilitate and support evidence-based decision making across the relevant Government sectors and beyond. The development and implementation of a national spatial data infrastructure by Tailte Éireann is potentially a very significant and welcome development for e-conveyancing. However, as with other possible technical approaches and potential solutions for e-conveyancing, this is something which could be explored as part of the review envisaged in Construction 2020.

While the case for e-conveyancing is very attractive, there are also substantial risks which must be quantified and managed. Though the future strategy for Tailte Éireann has not yet been developed, it is apparent from the preliminary work conducted to date in this regard, and outlined in the appendices, that the new organisation will be keen to play a central role in the future of e-conveyancing and will do so in partnership with its key public and private sector stakeholders.