Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1598.To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she is aware of the lengthy processing times for grants of probate at probate offices around the State; the plans to speed up the processing times; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33225/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware as Minister for Justice, I have no role in the exercise of Probate functions.

The Probate Office is an office of the High Court, and management of the courts is the responsibility of the judiciary and Courts Service, which are independent in exercising their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and given the separation of powers in the Constitution. Probate functions are also carried out by County Registrars at District Probate Registries in 14 provincial court offices.

The Probate General Office and Rules Office in Dublin is open to the legal profession and general public every morning, Monday to Friday, to facilitate general enquiries, copy requests, filing of court applications, Probate Officer Orders and caveats. There are no plans to re-open the Probate Seat Office for the lodgement of solicitor applications in person as to do so reduces the resources assigned to deal with applications on hand.

As part of its ongoing Modernisation Programme, the Courts Service is working to digitally transform the way in which applications for probate are processed. 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 solution is currently in development, with an expected public launch and rollout in the first half of 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.

Furthermore, the Report of the Expert Group and Conveyancing and Probate was approved by Government and published last week. This Group was established last December by the then Taoiseach, to carry out a review of current conveyancing and probate processes. In overall conclusion, the Group made recommendations on changes to both processes to make them more efficient and streamlined.

An Implementation Group will now be established to ensure oversight and delivery. My Officials will actively engage in that Group and identify next steps to implementing the key conveyancing and probate recommendations.