445 / 822
GAZETTE
SEPTEMBER 1 9 88
VIEWPOINT
(Contd. from page
195).
difficult for Counsel in particular to
take on cases on a speculative
basis. It wo u ld be e x t r eme ly
unfortunate if in wh at many see as
a questionable surrender to the
Insurance lobby the effect will be
to reduce the chances of persons
of mo d e st me a ns w h o have
suffered injury of obtaining the
services of the leading members of
the Bar.
•
Privatise the Land Registry?
Well perhaps not quite. There is
however a strong case to be made
for converting it into a Public Cor-
poration on the lines of Telecom
Eireann or An Post. In recent years
the Land Registry has been seen as
a revenue earning activity w i t h in
the Public Service — the surplus
produced by the Land Registry is
be i ng s i p h o n ed o f f i n to t he
Exchequer. Runn i ng t he Land
Registry at a profit is not of course
objectionable in itself so long as the
Registry is seen to be providing a
satisfactory service to the public.
Unfortunately, as the Manager of
the Registry recently advised the
So c i e t y, t he Pub l ic
Se r v i ce
embargo on staff recruitment is still
being applied to the Registry. The
result is a decline in the level of
service to the public.
The significant progress made in
the 1970s and early 1980s w i t h
regionalisation, the production of
file plans and the introduction of
computerisation is not being main-
tained. Twenty-one years after the
Registration of Title Act was
brought into force providing for a
gradual extension of compulsory
registration no areas have been
added to the original three counties
n ame d. The de l a ys in f i r st
registration in these counties and
other areas suggest t hat there can
be no likelihood of any significant
e x t e n s i on
of
c omp u l s o ry
registration in t he foreseeable
future.
If there is to be a comprehensive
system of registration of title as
opposed to registration of deeds, it
is essential that it is kept up to date
and that it functions efficiently.
Transactions must be registered
speedily so that the Register as
nearly as possible reflects the
actual ownership and occupation
and identity of the units of property.
If our Register is not up to date, all
kinds of dealings w i t h property,
d ome s t i c,
c omme r c i al
or
ag r i c u l t u r al are unne c e s s a r i ly
slowed d own w i th consequent
additional cost to all concerned.
The Land Registry is entitled to
have adequate staff to perform its
proper function and should need no
State subsidy. It can, as it has
shown, collect adequate revenue
f r om its customers. It must be
particularly frustrating for the Land
Registry staff who have already
shown by their introduction of
computerisation to the Registry
that they are interested in providing
a modern service to the public, that
they are prevented from doing so by
the dead hand of the public service
embargo. The Land Registry is not
one of the areas in wh i ch the public
service embargo should operate,
t he s i mp l e st s o l u t i on to t he
problem is almost certainly to
extract the Land Registry from the
public service and establish it as an
independent public Co r p o r a t i o n .•
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The Lawyers
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