on February 5, 2025

Portuguese government strengthens IRN staff with new hires

on February 5, 2025

Governo português reforça quadro do IRN com novas contratações

The Portuguese Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN) has taken an important step towards strengthening its operational capacity with the publication of the final lists of candidates approved in the 2023 competition. 58 new registrars and 240 registry officers were appointed. In addition, the Portuguese government announced the opening of new competitions to recruit an additional 70 registrars and 240 registry officers, seeking to reduce delays and improve the efficiency of services.

The Secretary of State for Justice, Maria José Barros, acknowledged the long wait of professionals and highlighted the importance of the moment: “We know that the results are not yet sufficient, but this first step and the next competitions will help to solve many problems.”

The appointment of Jorge Rodrigues da Ponte as president of the IRN at the beginning of the year already indicated a strategy of modernization and efficiency. In addition to the new staff, greater investment in technology is expected to streamline the backlog of cases. On this issue, Martins Castro lawyer Isabel Comte had already highlighted that Ponte's leadership could mean technological advances at the IRN: “As vice president, he was the one who encouraged the implementation of new technologies at the IRN. Therefore, I believe that this new Board of Directors should invest more in this area.”

The measure is aligned with the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), which seeks to boost administrative modernization in Portugal. With more hiring and digitalization, the expectation is that IRN services will become faster and more efficient.

Update:

In interview with the Portuguese Public Newspaper, Renato Martins, CEO of Martins Castro, analyzes that “this recruitment represents an essential step to improve the quality and efficiency of registry services, fundamental for legal security and transparency in the civil, property, commercial and nationality areas. It is important to highlight that the selected professionals will be distributed among the different areas and it is expected that the majority will be allocated to the civil registry due to the high demand”.

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