The Gazette 1981

INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND GAZETTE Vol. 75, No. 2 In this issue . . . Comment ^7 Education - A Student's View 29 by John Fahy The Solicitor's Apprentice: A Cautionary Tale 31 The Unattainable Heights? 33 by Jacinta Morris The Law School — Concentrating the Mind 35 Travelling Hopefully? 37 Law Society Annual Conference 38 German Trading Companies 39 by Nicola Barr FLAC - Legal Advice Bureau 40 Collapse of the List 4 1 Public Dance Licences 41 High Court Summons - 6 Day Costs 41 Bills before the Oireachtas, 1980 43 Correspondence President's Diary of Events 45 For Your Diary Professional Information 46

March 1981

Comment. . . In December 1980 the Government issued its long- awaited White Paper setting out its proposed Land Policy. "Comment" was in course of drafting, when the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute Seminar on the subject was held towards the end of February. At that Seminar the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry, Mr. Paddy Power, was quoted as saying that the Govern- ment was "mildly surprised at the almost total lack of reaction, to date, to the White Paper". "Comment" was about to express similar surprise, but in somewhat less mild terms. The first point that must be emphasised is that a coherent and workable Land Policy is not only essential to the nation, but long overdue. The Inter-Departmental Committee on Land Structure Reform and the Govern- ment itself are to be congratulated on the time and trouble already taken in investigating the inherent problems — social, historical and financial — which prevent this country from becoming the agricultural success it undoubtedly could be. But it is plain from the White Paper that the conclusions of the Committee and of the Government by no means coincide. The Committee recommends the replacement of the Land Commission by a new land agency, responsible for the promotion of the efficient use of land for agricultural development; the Government White Paper proposes to retain the Land Commission. The Committee recommends that the use of Land Bonds as a payment medium for lands purchased or acquired for structural reform purposes should be discon- tinued and payment made in cash; the Government does not regard this as an acceptable alternative to the "Land Bond" system. On these, and many other matters, the thinking of both the Committee and the Government is readily understandable and the difficulties all too plain. The White Paper is worth studying for its statistics alone. From them, a greater appreciation is possible of the scale of the present problem, of the extent to which traditional Land Commission practice has failed to achieve any significant structural improvement in agri- culture, and of the wholly disappointing response by the intended section of the farming community to the Farmers' Retirement Scheme. Government proposals for future land policy include financial measures intended to restrict the purchase of agricultural land by persons other than "full-time farmers (and . . . farmers' sons and daughters and landless persons working full-time in farming or who have received approved agricultural training) . . ."; the provision of grant or loan assistance towards land purchase by a "progressive farmer-purchaser" with an existing holding O Continued on page 30 27

Executive Editor: Mary Buckley Editorial Board: Charles R. M. Meredith, Chairman John F. Buckley William Earley Michael V. O'Mahony Maxwell Sweeney Advertising: Liam Ó hOisin, Telephone 305236 The views expressed in this publication, save where other wise indicated, are the views of the contributors and not necessarily the views of the Council of the Society. Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.