Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 September 2026
563. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the current average and median processing time for applications for grants of probate, broken down by solicitor applications, personal applications, online applications and paper applications, and by the Dublin probate office and each district probate registry. [68395/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra567. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether the Courts Service has established target processing times for probate applications; the current performance against those targets; and the further reforms that are planned to reduce the time taken from receipt of a complete application to the issuing of a grant. [68403/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra574. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the current staffing complement of the Probate Office and District Probate Registries; the number of vacancies in each; whether the Courts Service has assessed whether existing staffing levels are sufficient to meet current and projected demand; and whether additional resources will be provided where required. [68398/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 563, 567 and 574 together.
The Probate Office is an office of the High Court. Management of the courts, operational matters and logistical functions are the responsibility of the judiciary and Courts Service, which are independent in the exercise of their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and given the separation of powers in the Constitution. Probate functions are also carried out by County Registrars at District Probate Registries in 14 provincial court offices. As Minister, I have no role in the exercise of probate functions.
I am advised by the Courts Service that significant progress has been made to reduce average probate processing times. The average time (nationwide) for probate applications to complete is down from 22 weeks at the start of 2024 to 12 weeks in 2026. The current processing timeline for the Dublin Probate Office can now be viewed at https://courts.ie/guides/probate-processing-times.
Probate applications lodged through the new Probate Portal, which is currently open to solicitor applications, are currently being processed within approximately 3 to 4 weeks of lodgement, provided no queries arise.
The Courts Service is progressing its 10-year Modernisation Programme, to deliver an operating model that is digitally enabled and designed around the user. As part of these efforts, the eProbate project commenced in 2023 and seeks to digitally transform back office probate operations, to provide an online portal supporting the digital submission of applications, and to improve the provision of probate information online via the courts.ie website.
As part of the eProbate project a new, plain language information site was launched on courts.ie in mid 2024 to help applicants and solicitors to navigate the probate process. Following this, the project deployed a new modern back office system countrywide in March 2025, paving the way for the development of the online portal.
As the Courts Service progresses and improves the eProbate system, I am advised that it will be rolled out for more areas, such as intestacy and personal applicants. The electronic submission of applications through the online portal, combined with a simplified process, sharing of data from the Revenue Commissioners and the automated validation of key information at submission time, will enable faster and more efficient processing of applications.
The Courts Service has provided data regarding the median proceeding times for probate applications from 2021 to Quarter 2 2026 as set out in the table below.
Table: Probate Median Proceeding Times in weeks – 2021 to Q.2, 2026
|
Office |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026 Q.1 |
2026 Q.2 |
|
Castlebar |
7 |
6 |
11 |
14 |
9 |
14 |
8 |
|
Cavan |
4 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
|
Clonmel |
6 |
7 |
7 |
10 |
11 |
18 |
46 |
|
Cork |
16 |
11 |
9 |
16 |
19 |
18 |
16 |
|
Dublin |
12 |
15 |
20 |
17 |
9 |
11 |
11 |
|
Dundalk |
6 |
11 |
7 |
11 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
|
Galway |
10 |
20 |
17 |
13 |
18 |
13 |
12 |
|
Kilkenny |
11 |
13 |
10 |
15 |
16 |
18 |
13 |
|
Letterkenny |
6 |
10 |
11 |
17 |
17 |
6 |
5 |
|
Limerick |
7 |
16 |
15 |
30 |
15 |
3 |
5 |
|
Mullingar |
9 |
11 |
4 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
|
Sligo |
5 |
11 |
17 |
16 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
|
Tralee |
6 |
8 |
9 |
11 |
14 |
14 |
15 |
|
Waterford |
8 |
5 |
5 |
10 |
12 |
14 |
14 |
|
Wexford |
13 |
12 |
4 |
13 |
18 |
28 |
31 |
|
National |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Median |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Times |
12 |
15 |
20 |
17 |
9 |
11 |
12 |
The Courts Service have advised that the Median Proceeding Times represents the usual time a person can expect to have their probate application dealt with by the Probate and District Probate Offices and is based on the aggregated actual times of all probate applications concluded within each year. It is not possible to provide separate times for grants of probate and grants of administration, and the table shows a combined figure.
In relation to staffing, the total number of staff working in the Probate Office in Dublin is presently 22. The breakdown of staff by grade at the Probate Office in Dublin is set out in the table below.
|
Grade |
Number of staff |
|
Principal Officer |
2 |
|
Assistant Principal Officer |
3 |
|
Higher Executive Officer |
7 |
|
Executive Officer |
4 - one vacancy at present |
|
Clerical Officer |
6 |
In many District Probate Offices, staff responsible for processing probate applications will also have other responsibilities and work may be shared by a number of individuals. Therefore, the figures in the table below are based on an estimate of an average workload for probate but may fluctuate.
|
District Probate Registry- |
The number of full-time and part-time staff attached to the Probate Office |
|
Court Office |
(July 2026) |
|
Cavan |
1.5 (across 3 staff (AP, EO and CO) |
|
Cork |
3 (2 EO, 1 CO) |
|
Donegal |
1 (0.75 EO, 0.25 CO) |
|
Galway |
1.8 (EO and CO) |
|
Kerry |
0.8 (between EO, CO) |
|
Kilkenny |
1.6 (EO) |
|
Limerick* |
2 (1 EO, 1 CO) |
|
Louth |
1 (EO, CO) |
|
Mayo |
2 (1EO, 1CO) |
|
Sligo |
1 (EO part-time) |
|
Tipperary * |
1 (EO) |
|
Waterford |
1.5 (1 EO, 0.5 CO) |
|
Westmeath |
1 (0.75 EO, 0.25 CO) |
|
Wexford |
1 (EO) |
* Applications in Limerick and Tipperary district probate registries are currently being transferred to the Dublin Probate Office due to staff vacancies. Services will resume once vacancies are filled.
Finally, I am informed by the Courts Service that where an application is returned for correction and is subsequently resubmitted, it does not return to the end of the processing queue. However, due to the high volume of queried applications awaiting review, there may be a delay before the resubmitted application can be checked again.
