Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 292: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will remove the moratorium when it comes to replacing a position such as that of a county registrar. [16257/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes recommended a reduction in Registrar numbers from 26 to 15. There are currently three County Registrar vacancies (Monaghan, Sligo and Tipperary) whose functions are being covered by neighbouring Registrars under the provisions of Section 30 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2008. I am informed by the Courts Service that this arrangement is working well and has resulted in savings of over €700,000 to date.

The Courts Service established a Working Group in 2009 to conduct a detailed review of the role of the County Registrar. The group, which included a number of Registrars, found that with a reorganisation of management responsibilities (which is currently underway), there was sufficient capacity and expertise to take on a range of additional functions with a view to speedier and more efficient administration of court business. I propose to include enabling provisions for a number of these functions in the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill which will be published shortly. Proposals for other functions continue to receive consideration in consultation with the Attorney General.

When these additional functions have been introduced it will be possible to fully assess what the level of business is and the optimum future numbers. Pending that, I do not propose to seek to fill the three vacancies whose functions are being administered satisfactorily at present.