Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 438: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the fee income received and the surplus paid to the Exchequer by the Land Registry Office and Registry of Deeds Office in each of the years ending 31 December 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. [4035/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I am informed by the registrar of titles that all fees received by the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds are returned by way of extra Exchequer receipts as follows:

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 439: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of staff in the Land Registry Office and Registry of Deeds Office in each of the years ending 31 December 2000 to 2005, inclusive. [4036/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table:

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 440: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of dealings outstanding in the Land Registry Office as of 31 December 2005. [4037/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I am informed by the Registrar of Titles that the total number of dealings on hands in the Land Registry at 31 December 2005 was 152,775, of which 37,282 were the subject of queries and cannot be proceeded with until a satisfactory reply is received.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 441: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the waiting time for the processing of a Land Registry dealing on a county basis. [4038/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I am pleased to be able to inform the Deputy that the Land Registry has achieved significant productivity improvements in recent years, reflecting its business modernisation programme as well as considerable investment by the Government in the provision of new technology for this service. As a consequence, output in 2005 was up 49% on 2002 and the Land Registry was able to respond to the continued growth in applications arising from the extent of activity in the property sector. This progress is also reflected in the fact that national average waiting time calculated below has been reduced from 7.3 months in January 2005.

The information requested by the Deputy is as follows:

I am informed by the Registrar of Titles that this information was calculated on the basis that the total number of dealings on hand in the Land Registry at 31 January 2006 was 151,129 of which 37,455 were the subject of queries and cannot be proceeded with until a satisfactory reply is received. Therefore, the number of live cases was 113,674.

I can further inform the Deputy that the average waiting time is calculated by dividing the number of dealings on hand for each county by the average number completed monthly during 2005 for that county. The length of time taken to complete cases varies depending on a number of factors, including the complexity of the case, investigation of title requirements, the completeness of the documentation presented, mapping requirements, the volume of business being transacted, the level of resources available at any particular time and the time at which the present computerised system was introduced in the Land Registry Office for each county. Where a case is urgent and this is brought to the attention of the Land Registry Office, in accordance with its customer service policy, the matter is dealt with expeditiously.