asked the Minister for Justice the length of the delay in issuing grants of probate or letters of administration; if there is a go-slow in operation in the probate registry in Dublin; and the action he proposes to remedy the delays which people are experiencing.

In the case of an application by a solicitor, the grant normally issues in eight weeks.

In the case of personal applications I am informed that there is a delay of approximately four months in getting an appointment with the personal applications officer. However, thereafter the grant normally issues in less than three weeks. There are, however, special arrangements for dealing with cases where hardship might be caused by delay.

There has not been any `go-slow' in the Probate Office. On the contrary, I am aware that, out of concern for applicants, the staff of the office have worked very long hours over an extended period in an effort to reduce delays and they deserve credit for this. Due to their special efforts, delays in the case of personal applicants and solicitors have been reduced in recent months from six months and 12 weeks respectively to their present levels.

In an effort to improve the general situation, additional staff was made available to the Probate Office recently and it is hoped that this, together with full computerisation of records, will lead to a further reduction in the time taken to issue grants.

Will the Minister accept there has been considerable difficulty in obtaining grants of administration and probate from probate offices around the country because of the delay in getting nil certificates from Dublin? The Minister has told us this delay has been reduced from six months to four months and I should like to know if he is concerned about the extent of that delay. What period of delay would he consider to be normal for the issue of nil certificates in normal cases?

In the case of applications by a solicitor, the grant normally issues within eight weeks, not four months as the Deputy has indicated.

The cases I referred to involved solicitors.

I agree that the delays in the past were longer than we would have wished. I am satisfied with the steps we have taken to reduce the delays and I am equally satisfied that with the measures I have outlined in my first response we will reduce those delays still further.