Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 401: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will review, by way of order, land registry fees in respect of Land Registry Dealings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15946/08]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 402: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if the Land Registry Service are operating on a self-financing basis; if the Land Registry made a profit in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15947/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 401 and 402 together.

I can inform the Deputy that under the Registration of Deeds and Titles Act, 2006 the Property Registration Authority was established with responsibility for the management and control of both the Land Registry and the Registry of Deeds. In accordance with Section 21 of this Act, which replaced Section 4 of the Registration of Titles Act 1964, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may by order fix the fees to be charged by the Property Registration Authority for its services.

As the Deputy may be aware, the current Land Registry fees order came into operation on 1 May, 2000 and has since only been amended to reflect the euro changeover. Work is currently underway on the introduction a new order, with the intention being to restructure the fee arrangements to take account of the Registry's up to date operational and strategic needs.

The Act provides for the Authority to operate on a self-financing basis, and I can confirm that this was the case in 2007. Cash fee receipts exceeded cash outlay in that year. However, it would be misleading to compare fee income with cash outlay only for the purposes of determining whether the Authority operated on a self-financing basis. For example, any such determination would have to include the full costs, including indirect costs, of items such as pension provision, services from other Departments and so on.