The Gazette 1989

GAZETTE

APRIL 1989

LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND REVENUE COMMISSIONERS - STAMP DUTY LAND REGISTRY & REGISTRY OF DEEDS The President and Council of the Law Society have noted with extreme concern the notice by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners in the daily papers of 16th February, 1989, to the effect that the Stamps Office will not deal with postal applications until further notice. The Society understands that it will be quite some time before the postal service is resumed. This public admission by the Revenue Commissioners of their inability to adequately staff a major revenue raising service will impose severe hardship, delay and additional costs on solicitors practising outside Dublin and on their clients. The Society seeks the understanding of Solicitors' Clients in the present difficulty. The inability of the Revenue Commissioners to deal with the increasing flow of business consequent on recent improvements in the economy, will be a serious blow to business confidence and to the expeditious handling of business in the rising property market. At the same time the Society urges the Minister for Finance to take immediate steps to eliminate these difficulties. The Society avails of this opportunity to draw the public's attention to an almost equally disastrous situation in the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds, where despite the Society's constant pressure and the strongest representations to the Department of Justice and public representatives of all political parties, delays in many types of application, due to inadequate staffing are running at 12 months and more Again, this is having a seriously detrimental effect on property transactions and building developments. Despite the high and ever increasing level of charges, the service is deteriorating by the day. How long must the public suffer from inadequate, essential Government services for which they pay dearly?

Text of notice placed in the national newspapers on 17 February, 1989, by the Society's Public Relations Committee.

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