Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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516. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her attention has been drawn to delays in processing applications in the Probate Office; her plans to increase staff capacity to deal with any backlog in the office; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41463/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Probate Office is an office of the High Court and 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 informed me that the introduction of restrictions under level 5 of the Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021 Plan for Living with COVID-19 necessitated the temporary closure of the personal applications process in the Dublin Probate Office for the six weeks in question.

Appointments with personal applicants will recommence in early January and I am informed that the Office has commenced the process of writing out to applicants to offer them times. Assuming no further imposition of restrictions, the applications on hand are expected to be cleared during January.

I understand the current waiting times for solicitor applications is eight to ten weeks. There has been an increase in the waiting times due to COVID-19. The waiting time has also increased due to a significant number of applications having been lodged by solicitors in September. When the latter cases are processed, the waiting times for solicitors' applications should reduce to eight weeks and should stay at that level for the foreseeable future.

I am informed that there are no plans to increase staff capacity as the arrears are manageable within the existing staffing complement.