Victor Boyhan: Calls for Quarterly Updates on 80,000 Land Cases

I suppose just to say a few things I want to sum up. One, I think it's really important that this meeting is here because this is televised, so the public will be listening in here tonight on Oireachtas' report and they'll see some of the frustration. I fully concur with everything that my colleague Senator Joe Flaherty said and he tapped into the absolute frustration. My opening line here today to this committee was, Tánaiste Éireann has been a source of significant frustration for home buyers, sellers and the legal profession in Ireland. I typed that out two weeks ago, knowing you were coming here. So that was my key opening gambit. So I just want to make that point, I'm sticking by it. I suppose just two or three issues. At the end of the day, we are here today, you know, this afternoon and we're going out of here having you confirming to this committee and to the public at large who are listening in, 80,000 cases of unhand. That's a hell of a lot of work to do. And that relates to individual property. So I think, I go back to a question I asked, would you be in favour of every three months publishing up on your website a log, seeing the progress chart of this 80,000? Because that's my ask, whether you do it or not, it's grand. I have other platforms, I have other fora within the Oireachtas to keep raising it. I intend engaging constructively with parliamentarians of all parties and none in the Dáil to continue to put a series of PQs to you. I was involved in many of them in the past. I will continue to raise the matter under the shanners. 80,000 cases is too many. And to come up and suggest that it will take two years, 40,000 each year, that's not fast enough. That's my view. I think a lot of politicians share the same view because I've had conversations with them. But I'm going to park all that now. I think we've had a good airing. I know from engagement correspondence I have with me here today from the various ministers who've engaged with you and their officials with you, they too recognise there are problems. So I think we'll just park all that there. Can you just say, I suppose I want to ask a question first. To deal with farmland, and I know it's very hard to break down strata and data, but applications involving the transfer of registered farmland, where no change to the registered map is required, are in the main process within what? How many amount of working days? If the application is lodged in order for registration and no subdivision. And no change map. No change map is required. It can be done when it comes into the validation unit within a matter of days. So would we say 10 days? Less than 10 days, yes. That's good news. So the query from the farmer today, the farmer representative organisation who paid a case to me, I can go away today and say to him, and he'll be looking in, that an application involving the transfer of registered farmland, where no change to the registry map is required, will be processed within 10 days? Yes, for all of a folio, where there's no subdivision, it's in order, on lodgment. That's great. That's good news. We have people in the unit ready to do it, and this is happening every day. Great, good news for that. In terms of the Land Commission archive, do you have access or collaboration in a very open, fluid way with the Land Commission? No, that's, as we understand it, under the remit of the Department of Agriculture, we have no interaction or control over that. Do you see potential benefits of a synergy with that, or is that really relevant? We don't see it as relevant. Why do you not see it as relevant, when you have no access to it? Because I think what we're operating is a live, active register. I think that's more of a treasure trove, an archive, as such. It's not live and active. So it's not necessarily for your work? Not at all. That's okay. And then finally, I suppose, having listened to all the debates here, and the frustrations, because there were many, I think what's the key ask here? The key ask is that the citizen needs to be confident in Taltair's capacity to provide an authoritative land and property database and systems in a timely manner. It's really down to being in a timely manner. And I understand the enormous amount of work that you've shared with us to explain it today, but that's the issue. It's the timely manner. And so politicians, be they local councillors in local government, be they senators, TDs, whatever, they are meeting people on the cold face on a weekly basis, with 80,000 cases, you can imagine. They're clearly another port of call for people. So there is that frustration. So I don't want to be critical. I know people who work in your organisation, but that wouldn't be appropriate of me to say what their views of how the organisation is run, good, bad, or indifferent. But there is a frustration amongst many of your staff. Indeed, some of your staff are working in this house, were working there, are now working in the OALTA, just to say, as they move in the public service. And that is, I understand, I was involved in the pre-legislation of this piece of legislation, and what brought about your establishment, Taltair, but I think that is the hope. The hope was we would see a faster and more speedier way of dealing with the issue. So I just want to share the frustration. I'm moved on, it's not about me. But I do think, you know, the transactional lands is critically important. It's people's money, it's their assets at stake here. And I think you can understand too. I wish you well in your work ahead. I think the digitalisation and the innovation and technology and all of that, I think as that's rolled out, clearly, that's going to be impressive. And I'll finish by saying, I learned something from these proceedings, and that is about your aviation and the monitoring of that. I think that's a really, really important. That's a good news story. That's a story that I think most people don't quite understand. And how important that gathering of that data and that information, and I want to commend you and your team on pursuing that. Because I think that's a really important story. So it's an evolving organisation. But the big issue is, can we communicate and allay the fears of 80,000 people, at least on a quarterly basis, what's the status of their application before you? Thank you.