Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)

The processing of grant of probate is currently taking 17 to 20 weeks on average. I have been contacted on a regular basis, as I am sure many Members of the House have been, by constituents frustrated by the delays, especially when they need to sell a property or asset and the sale is being held up. Earlier this year, the property agent Lisney said that continuing delays in the Probate Office will affect the housing market this year. As probate sales account for at least one third of the supply in the housing market, understandably, buyers are reluctant to engage with properties that could be held up for months waiting for a grant of probate to issue. This adds further unnecessary pressure to the housing market. I understand some delays are a result of errors in documents being submitted. I ask the Minister to consider recruiting more staff to deal with the backlog of probate cases and that she would also consider reinstating the public counter in the Probate Office, which was closed during the Covid-19 pandemic and has not reopened since that time.

See this speech in context