Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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In accordance with the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 Act, I asked the Legal Services Regulatory Authority to prepare and submit a report on the possible creation of a new profession of conveyancer. Section 34 of the Legal Services Regulation Act makes specific provision to address this remaining area of legal services reform.

The report, including recommendations, will be published in the coming weeks. The report will also be laid before the House of the Oireachtas to coincide with its publication. Work will now get underway in my Department to consider the various recommendations put forward.

Separately, it may also interest the Deputy to know that the Taoiseach recently established an interdepartmental Working Group on Conveyancing and Probate to carry out a review of current conveyancing and probate processes and identify scope for greater efficiency and streamlining. It is envisaged that this Group will report its recommendations by the summer.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that the Taoiseach recently established a Working Group on Conveyancing and Probate to carry out a review of current conveyancing and probate processes and identify scope for greater efficiency and streamlining. The group comprises various experts including a solicitor, an auctioneer, consumer advocates as well as officials from the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and my Department.

The group is engaging with key industry representatives from the financial services, legal services, and property services sectors as well as other stakeholders. As part of its work the Working Group will consider the type of reforms included in the Seller’s Legal Pack for Property Buyers Bill 2021. It is envisaged that this Group will report with its recommendations by the Summer, and I along with ministerial colleagues, look forward to that report.

In terms of the granting of probate in the conveyancing process, the Courts Service , as part of the organisation's Modernisation Programme, is working to digitally transform the Probate process.

The eProbate project will deliver a facility to submit and track applications for Grants of Representation online via a public facing portal. This new digital offering is currently in the early stages of development and will continue to be developed throughout 2024 with an expected public launch in early 2025.

The public facing portal will act as a single point of contact for users to submit and track their applications through the entire process. The electronic submission of applications through the online portal, combined with automated validation of key information at submission time, will enable faster and more efficient processing of applications, with the aim of reducing waiting times.

It should be noted that major legislative reforms have been made to conveyancing law in recent years as part of the Government’s ongoing drive to reform and ensure greater efficiency in our property law and conveyancing practices - for example, the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Acts 2009 to 2021.

In addition, the Tailte Éireann Act 2022 consolidated the mandatory nationwide registration of property, along with property valuation, mapping and surveying functions, in a single State body, Tailte Éireann, from March 2023. A total of 90% of property titles nationally are now registered, which greatly simplifies the future conveyancing of that property.