Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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403. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason deeds of transfer, family home declarations and other sworn declarations were excluded from the terms of the Electronic Commerce Act 2000 as set out in section 10(1)(b) and (c); and his plans to apply the terms of section 10(2)(a), (b) and (c) to these types of documents to facilitate a more efficient process of home sales. [48026/17]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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404. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to amend the Electronic Commerce Act 2000 or amend the regulations related to this Act to allow for documents such as deeds or transfer, family home declarations and other sworn declarations to be signed electronically rather than with a written signature. [48027/17]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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405. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to undertake a small controlled trial or pilot project to examine the viability of allowing documents such as deeds or transfer, family home declarations and other sworn declarations to be signed electronically rather than with a written signature in order to inform his Department of the merit of a wider amendment of the regulations relating to section 10 of the Electronic Commerce Act 2000. [48028/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 403 to 405, inclusive, together.

At the time of the Electronic Commerce Act, as the Act states, it was decided to exclude deeds of transfer, family home declarations and other sworn declarations, (as technology and the availability of it) were yet not fit for that purpose, adequate procedures and practices had not yet been developed in public registration or other services, and it was not in the public interest to do so at the time.

Any plan to amend legislation to allow eSignatures for property related transactions would require careful consideration, including taking into account relevant legal, tax, business, property and title registration issues, including IT interoperability aspects.

The matter of eConveyancing is of course a matter for the Department of Justice. I understand that while a proposal in relation to eConveyancing received some consideration by a review group convened by the Department of Justice and Equality in early 2016, this proposal was subsequently withdrawn and there is no alternative proposal currently under consideration.