Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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961. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the average and longest waiting time in each probate office for applications by solicitors and personal applicants, respectively; the number of applications on hand in each office; the timeline for the eProbate project to go live in each office; the status of the project; if the Revenue Commissioners have been incorporated and gone live on eProbate; the status of the implementation of each recommendation in the report of the probate services review group; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22491/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Probate Office is an office of the High Court. The management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service which is independent in exercising its functions under the Courts Service Act 1998.

However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has provided the following update on this matter.

Dublin Probate Office

Solicitors applications are taking approximately 4 to 5 weeks to issue at the moment in the Dublin probate office.

Personal applicant interviews in the same office were suspended since March due to Covid 19 restrictions but plans are now in place to resume interviews in September. Letters inviting applicants to attend the office will issue in the coming days

Resources have been reassigned to reduce the backlog as quickly as possible.

District Probate Registries

The waiting times for the District Probate Registries around the country are as follows:

The Courts Service has informed me that the priority project in the probate area for 2020 is to remove the manual Revenue affidavit from the probate process and to replace it with an on line system. This project, which is in partnership with the Revenue Commissioners, will go live on 14th September 2020, and will reduce the waiting times for all applications.

The proposed e-Probate project remains on the Courts Service's list of modernisation projects to deliver a more citizen-centred service. The timetable for its implementation has yet to be determined and it will continue to be considered in the context of other priority projects in the areas of civil, criminal and family law.

The review of the probate process is now complete. All actions which assisted in reducing the waiting times have been taken. The reduction in waiting times for solicitor applications reflects the outcome of the review and the outcomes from other initiatives that have taken place over the past two years.