The Gazette 1989

GAZETTE

APRIL 1989

From the President . . .

aware of nor insensitive to the massive burden both emotional and practical which these proceedings have imposed upon the parties for both the parents of the infant and the Medical Practitioners whose conduct has been impugned". There has to be a better way of handling this type of case. Surely in this sophisticated age compen- sation for personal injury in medical negligence cases should not depend on proving fault or error. Can we not come up with an annuity insurance system under- written by the Government of no fault compensation as has been managed in some other countries? I also think that in medical negligence cases the system of awarding capital sums should be replaced with an annuity payable at so much per year for the duration of the life of the injured party. This would reduce the cost of this type of claim for the future. SUPREME COURT APPEALS - WRI TTEN SUBMI SS I ONS As a separate point, there is something wrong with our judicial system when it takes thirteen days to hear an appeal from a fifteen day trial. Can we not move towards the American system where on appeal a great body of the submissions are in writing and there is very limited oral presentation. This is also the practice in the European Court with which some of our Advocates should by now have become familiar. I believe in its own interest the Supreme Court, which is building up a heavy backlog of cases, should apply a new regime to those that appear before it and limit the time for oral debate. COMPET I T ION AND FREE MOVEMENT Not only here but very much so in a host of countries including the U.K. the profession is being sub- jected to critical review in the name of the Great God of the 1980's - free market competition. Let me quote to you from the Scottish Consultation Paper on the Legal Profession: — "The government has encouraged a preference for the market mechanism as a means of alloc- ating resources. Any restriction on the free supply of services is a distortion of a competitive market

a major reforming Act in this Century. The Society has proposed to the Government that the Land Registry should be converted into a self financing corporation run on com- mercial lines with the necessary staff and other resources to install and develop the requisite tech- nology to comply with the demands of the profession and the public for speedy registration of property transactions. I can see no reason why the Companies Office should not be treated similarly. The Government is committed to a National Devel- opment Plan which will commit greater resources to the develop- ment of physical infrastructure in terms of regional development. I am not aware that any of these funds have been allocated to the bringing up to standard of the infrastructure of the legal system, be it the Land Registry, the Com- panies Office or the Courts. However I am pleased to say the Department of Justice with the Department of Finance and the Land Registry are at present having a study made of the staffing needs of the Land Registry. This I might say is in reaction to considerable pressure from us. We have also been informed recently that feasibility studies have shown that computerisation of the Central Office of the High Court is viable and should com- mence next year. PERSONAL INJURY - NO FAULT COMPENSAT ION FOR MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE Can I turn now to a current problem to which we must find a solution — professional medical negligence claims such as the Dunne case which is currently heading back to the High Court after a 15 day hearing there and 3 days in the Supreme Court. Leaving aside the costs which of course are enormous, the stress involved in this kind of action for the parents of the child for the Gynaecologist and for the manage- ment and staff of the hospital are extreme. The Chief Justice, in his Judg- ment said and I quote, "I am neither

Extract from Address to the Annual Conference of the Incor- porated Law Society of Ireland at Killarney by the President Maurice R. Curran on the 5th May 1989. Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, CHANG I NG T I MES The times in which we live and the pace of change and develop- ment in the world all around us fascinate me. I have been twenty- eight years in practice as a Solicitor and in that time legal offices have been transformed both in the equipment they use and the services that they deliver. Indeed one of the joys of 1989 is the speed at which business can be carried out with the assistance of modern technology. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE Legal offices and solicitors in general have moved with the times, adapted to new technology, increased their productivity and, with the assistance of C.L.E. Courses provided by the Society, have kept their knowledge and skills up to date. In comparison what we have got from the Government in the same period? A Land Registry, where it takes over 12 months, on the Govern- ment's own admission, to com- plete a dealing. A Land Law and Conveyancing system in which there has not been

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