asked the Minister for Justice the number of applications received from January 1986 to 30 June 1986 by the Land Registry Office for the purchase of ground rent under the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act, 1978; and the number of applications outstanding for finalisation on 30 June 1986.

I am informed by the Registrar of Titles that the number of applications received from 1 January 1986 to 30 June 1986 was 1,041. The number of applications outstanding for finalisation on 30 June 1986 was 7,755. The number of applications on hand on 31 October 1986 was 5,795.

Will the Minister confirm that applications for the purchase of ground rents are three years in arrears? Will he also indicate the number of staff in that section?

The Deputy's information is incomplete. Average delays in consent cases are now less than three months. The arbitration cases are currently about three years old but I expect that delays in relation to such cases will be reduced to about one year. There are 13 persons employed in the Land Registry at present and if the Deputy wants a breakdown by grade I will be happy to let him have the information.

I asked a similar question on this matter some months ago and the Minister indicated there was a staff of 14 people dealing with these matters which means there has been a net loss of one person. Is the Minister aware of a case about which I made representations — not an arbitration case — in May 1983 that has not yet been finalised? That is almost three and a half years ago.

I am not aware of the case about which the Deputy made representations. There is a provision whereby cases can be taken out of turn in order to avoid serious inconvenience or substantial loss. I am happy to say that by comparison with the position when Deputy Brady raised a similar question — I do not have the exact date — the situation in relation to delays has improved very substantially. I am quite confident improvement will be maintained.