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National target of 8 weeks for both probate and conveyancing to be set

In February, delays at Dublin’s Probate Office reached a record high of five months.

A NATIONAL TARGET of eight weeks for both probate and conveyancing is to be set by government. 

The Taoiseach will bring a memo to Cabinet today from the expert group on probate and conveyancing, a group which was identified as necessary in the Housing For All action plan. 

The group was tasked to look at the area in a bid to reduce costs and delays and to make needed housing stock available to market more quickly.

Probate is the legal process to distribute the property and assets left in a dead person’s will.

In February, The Journal reported that delays at Dublin’s Probate Office reached a record high of five months, causing prolonged stress for people waiting on a division of assets to be approved and impacting the housing market. 

The delays have steadily increased after a new way of working was introduced at the start of the Covid pandemic to accommodate remote work for the office, replacing the old face-to-face system. 

Solicitors have called on the Probate Office to reinstate its face-to-face counter service as they continue to deal with upset clients and poor communication from the office. 

The report, which will be published, recommends more digitisation of the processes, a legal change to remove outdated processes and public awareness campaigns around the processes.

In addition, Cabinet will also be asked to approve the establishment of a Building Standards Regulatory Authority.

An expert working group recommended that such a regulator be set up so as to strengthen the oversight role of the State in respect of the design and construction of buildings as well as the use of construction products. 

The establishment of such a body is also aimed at reducing the risk of building failures and recurring defects.

The establishment of this authority will require primary legislation and it will have effective powers of inspection and enforcement and a suite of sanctions.

Until such primary legislation is passed, a Building Standards Agency will be established by order to expedite the development of appropriate governance and management structures, as well as to increase inspection capacity by recruiting competent technical staff to support local authorities. 

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    Mute Andrew Kenny
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    Feb 19th 2025, 5:26 PM

    The biggest ‘sh##show’ imaginable. I point the finger fairly and squarely at Simple Simon Harris. The cost is truly astonishing followed closely by incompetence on a stratospheric level. Let us not forget the poor kiddies that are being deprived of the care they deserve, all because of a government run by gimps.

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    Mute Padraic O' Sullivan
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    Feb 19th 2025, 5:59 PM
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    Mute Brian Hunt
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    Feb 19th 2025, 6:12 PM

    @Padraic O’ Sullivan: Ah yes, Dr Reilly, should be called Little Jack Horner, as he had his thumb in many pies!

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    Mute honey badger
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    Feb 19th 2025, 6:29 PM

    @Padraic O’ Sullivan: I’ve never understood why this wasn’t built at the Connolly hospital site in Blanchardstown. An absolute and enduring fiasco from start to eventual finish.

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    Mute The next small thing
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    Feb 19th 2025, 8:29 PM

    @honey badger: from what I heard it was because the consultants (probably some that signed this letter) wouldn’t move there, I wouldn’t take that as gospel though.

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    Mute Brian Hunt
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    Feb 19th 2025, 8:52 PM

    @honey badger: It would have been ideal, on the M50, readily accessible from anywhere, but no, vested interests take precedence!

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    Mute Brian Molloy
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    Feb 19th 2025, 9:40 PM

    @honey badger: or maybe in the midlands where it’s central to the whole country

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    Mute Adam H2022
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    Feb 20th 2025, 11:31 AM

    @The next small thing: I have family in there and heard Southside consultants had the final say on it. Made to suit the Blackrock brigade a F the rest of us as per usual. No real surprises there to be honest.

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    Mute Mr Inbetween
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    Feb 20th 2025, 3:44 PM

    @Andrew Kenny: FG gave the green light to proceed construction in the heart of Dublin City, we all know it should have been built in Blanchardstown, heavy traffic has always been a problem in this part of the city and now it’s going to be much heavier and will cause longer delays for everyone trying to negotiate traffic especially for people living in the area and commuters heading west towards Palmerstown, Lucan, Leixlip, Cellbridge.

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    Mute Ciaran Bolger
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    Feb 21st 2025, 11:52 AM

    @Adam H2022: anyone who thinks medical consultants had ANY say in where hospitals are located has no understanding of how the health system in Ireland works. All decisions like this are made by the department of health and politicians

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    Mute David Cotter
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    Feb 19th 2025, 5:22 PM

    No need to worry gang… it will be at least another year before this is open..no need to panic

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    Mute Alan Moloney
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    Feb 19th 2025, 6:27 PM

    @David Cotter: a complete joke

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    Mute Jerry LeFrog
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    Feb 19th 2025, 6:29 PM

    @Chutes Idiot: you’re optimistic… Wasn’t that hospital moved to a “2030 Project” some days after the November elections? I wish I were wrong though

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Feb 19th 2025, 5:42 PM

    Great breakdown on the fiasco here:

    https://youtu.be/GbEsE7DlotA

    Shows this disaster is now well known around the World. I’ve also heard Bam might ask for another €853 million, pushing the total cost well past €3 billion.

    46
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    Mute Brian Hunt
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    Feb 19th 2025, 6:18 PM

    @David Jordan: This is what happens when Student Union activists are running the government, like getting children to operate a nuclear reactor!

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    Mute Gavin Smartr
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    Feb 19th 2025, 7:26 PM

    Well of course there’s going to be staff shortages. They’ve built a building. They haven’t built any kind of medical system that anyone in there right mind would want to work in. How any of the staff turn up for work everyday is beyond me. I mean frontline staff that are being ran into the ground day in day out. Having a recruitment embargo on irish nurses whole recruiting them from abroad is just a slap in the face to any junior nurse that was going to enter the system. If they have any sense they will be long gone and god bless them in there lives. The NCH was a ego project for fg.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Feb 19th 2025, 6:36 PM

    Exactly where are the staff to treat the kiddies commung from .there is a lack of nurses and Dr’s as it is in ireland due to the extra long hours and awfull pay

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    Mute Michael Reilly
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    Feb 19th 2025, 8:07 PM

    @Karen Marten: “awful pay” Doctors!

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    Mute Pat Redmond
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    Feb 19th 2025, 11:49 PM

    @Michael Reilly: there are a thousand vacancies for consultants. They won’t return to Ireland while the conditions are so appalling. What has the minister for health to say about all this?

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    Mute Nikki Swift
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    Feb 19th 2025, 9:23 PM

    In another 2 years the hospital still won’t be open but the sick kids will be living out there grandparents back garden in a lag cabin

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    Mute Bernard Mac Giolla Bhain
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    Feb 19th 2025, 8:43 PM

    Import the third world, Become the third world!
    POTA!

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    Mute Phillip Smyth
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    Feb 19th 2025, 7:22 PM

    Enough of this debacle now, no point contributing to dialogue on this sad happening for children of this isle, it is what it is let’s wait until the doors are open.

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    Mute Pat Redmond
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    Feb 19th 2025, 11:47 PM

    Unless the minister gets the working conditions right for the medical and nursing staff the crisis continues.

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    Mute Tim Brennan
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    Feb 19th 2025, 11:51 PM

    Doctors do you real jobs and turn up for work at weekends

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