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GAZETTE
april
1990
also rising. These factors bore on
the level of insurance premia
quoted to young drivers as well as
on those quoted to more mature
motorists. The Minister stated that
one could not reasonably expect
the price of motor insurance to
reduce, or even to stablise, when
the claims rate and the cost of
claims was increasing. The
international comparisons that
were available suggest that this
country has a very high accident
rate and that the claims rate in
Ireland is considerably above that
in other European countries.
The Minister said that unless and
until the claims experience in
Ireland mirrored that obtaining in
other European countries there
would be divergences between
motor insurance premia in Ireland
and those applying in other
European countries.
The Minister said that both he
and his colleagues in Government
would continue to do what they
reasonably could to improve the
environment for insurance. The
Minister stated that he was, of
course, aware t ha t, despite
initiatives already taken, for
example, the
Courts Act,
1988,
mo t or insurance premia had
continued to rise. The ultimate
decisions, however, rest w i th
society itself. The Minister posed
the question whether we were
prepared to tolerate a high accident
rate and abnormally generous
compensa t i on for v i c t ims of
accidents or whether we wanted to
see a real reduction in the cost of
motor insurance. The Minister
proposed to stimulate public
debate on the question of which
alternative our society wished to
adopt and also to suggest for
discussion and implementation
where possible initiatives which
might assist in the attainment of
the adopted alternative. Thus, for
example, the Minister cited his
recent references to the need to
give
consideration
to
the
establishment of a tribunal for
personal injury claims. The
Minister's Department was ex-
amining the feasibility of such a
tribunal in conjunction with other
Government Departments and the
insurance industry.
The Minister had recently
suggested that the insurance
industry itself should propose and
support a road safety campaign in
conjunction with the Government
and the Minister stated that he was
encouraged at the response he had
had from the Irish Insurance
Federation in that regard.
L AND REG I STRY DELAYS
Mr. D. Spring, T.D., raised the issue
of delays in the Land Registry on
the Adjournment Debate in the Dáil
on May 22, 1990 (398
Dáil
Debates
cols. 2546-2552). Mr.
Spring stated that unfortunately
there was still a major crisis in the
Land Registry which had been
caused solely by Government
cutbacks and in particular by the
Government's early retirement
scheme. The consequences had
been the virtual collapse of the
services offered by the Land
Registry with enormous delays in
house and land transactions. In
fact, the most recent information
he could get was that the backlog
of work now stood at 50,000 cases
to be processed, the highest figure
ever. The figure had risen by 10,000
over the past number of months, an
increase of almost a quarter on the
previous year.
Mr. Spring stated that the
average delay transferring a site
was now two years. Occasionally
there were mapping difficulties and
he stated that this arose in parti-
cular in rural Ireland. There was an
additional delay of about 20
months because a site transfer
should take place within a four
month period given normal working
practice. There were also 12,000
Land Commission vestings in
arrears and it took approximately 11
years to complete any such
vesting. The figures spoke for
themselves. Mr. Spring said that
urgent action was needed to be
taken if we are ever to come to
grips with these problems.
Northern Ireland
Agency Work
Undertaken by Solicitors
Donnelly, Neary & Donnelly
1, Downshire Road,
Newry, Co Down.
Phone: 08 - 0693 - 64611.
Fax: 08-0693-67000.
PROMPT REPLIES ASSURED
FEE SPLITTING ARRANGED
Mr. Spring said that the Land
Registry had been seeking com-
puterisation for a number of years
but to the best of his knowledge
only a very rudimentary system had
been provided.
One of the most ludicrous
problems in the Land Registry
according to Mr. Spring was the
fact that the Land Registry was
more than capable of standing on
its own feet. This year Mr. Spring
said that the office is expected to
contribute £10.3 million to the
Exchequer through Land Registry
fees and other sources of income.
This represented a profit in the
region of £1 million to the
Exchequer. Mr. Spring also referred
to a well established common
practice that, in 90 per cent of the
times that solicitors contact the
Land Registry, they include in their
letter to the client a request to
make sure that they contact their
local TD or public representative.
Mr. Spring said that this contri-
buted to the clogging up of work in
the Land Registry by virtue of the
number of phone calls and the
correspondence involved. It was
unfortunate that we had put
ourselves into this position. Mr.
Spring concluded by saying that he
hoped that the Dail would not have
to come back again in six or seven
months time seeking an improve-
ment in the service. He suggested
to the Minister that the target for
the year's end should be to reduce
those dealings to 20,000 or 25,000
wh i ch wou ld be a we l come
achievement.
The Minister for Justice, Mr. Ray
Burke, in reply stated that the
economic upturn in recent years
and the consequent increase in the
number of property transactions in
the State had placed considerable
pressure on the Land Registry and
Registry of Deeds. The Minister
said that the total number of
applications annually exceeded
250,000 and this had increased
steadily since 1985. Dealing
applications, which comprise the
bulk of the Land Registry work
increased by 18.7 per cent in 1989
compared with 1988 and the over-
all volume of the main categories of
work lodged in the Land Registry in
1989 showed an increase of
4
per
cent when compared with 1988.
The Minister stated that shortly
after taking office he initiated a
general review of the Land Registry
185