The Gazette 1989

SEPTEMBER

1989

GAZETTE

From the President . . .

dealing with the subject of Law Reform, there are now five, and a serious and continuing shortage of experienced Parliamentary Draughts- men. (I understand that the drafting of legislation only continues at its present pace by the employment on contract of three retired Parlia- mentary Draughtsmen). Apparently it takes three to five years to train Draughtsmen fully so the scope of the potential problem is very clear. Added to this we have a Parliament which appears to sit less days per year than almost any other Parli- ament in Europe. All in all, not a happy combination of circum- stances. It seems obvious to us lawyers that all the Government pro- grammes in the world cannot be brought to fruition if the personnel are not available to convert these programmes into legislation. Thus it seems to me extraordinary that the dogma of fiscal rectitude should be applied so indiscrimin- ately as to deprive the Executive and the Legislature of one necessary instrument, namely the drafters of legislation, that is indispensable for the making of law. This may be an area in which we as a profession have failed to make our views clear and to urge sufficiently strongly upon Govern- ment how crucially important it is in the modern world, that the pace of change in our Society and the urgent necessity to conform to European standards in many areas of society, be not hindered by a ramshackle outdated system for the preparation and implementation into law of essential measures. I am aware that the Law Reform Commission has recently produced a Report on Conveyancing and Land Law which I hope will not go the way of many previous Reports and be left to gather dust on some Civil Service shelf. I find it an embarrassment when discussing matters with lawyers in neighbour- ing countries to have to admit that we have had no major reforming Act in the Land Law or Con- veyancing area since the last century; could it be that we would actually go an entire century without reform in this area? •

SAVE MONEY ON YOUR BUSINESS

MAIL

Irish Document Exchange 1 MERRION SQUARE DUBLIN 2 IRELAND

PHONE: 01-764601 /766685 FAX: 01-767093 DX 1 DUBLIN

ISLE OF MAN & TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS MESSRS SAMUEL Mc CLEERY Solicitors, Attorneys-at-Law of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Registered Legal prac- tioners in the Isle of Man of 1 Castle Street,Castletown, Isle of Man, will be pleased to accept instructions by their senior resident partner, Mr. Samuel McCleery from Irish Solicitors in the forma- tion of resident and non-resident I.O.M. Companies and exempt Turks and Caicos Island Companies. Irish Office. 26 South Frederick Street, Dublin 2. Telephone: 01 -760780 Fax: 01 -764037. I.O.M. Office: Telephone : 0624-822210 Telex : 628285. Fax : 0624-823799 London Office: Telephone : 01-8317761. Telex : 297100 Fax : 01-8317485.

In its r ecen t ly p r omu l ga t ed programme, the new Government has included as an important heading, Law Reform. In the last edition of this Gazette, Eamonn Hall, in reviewing the Law Reform Commission's 10th Report, stated that the most powerful source of Law Reform is that of general public opinion. He also commented t ha t the layman and many politicians are not interested in lawyers' law. Hopefully, the new Government's approach may prove that there has been a change of heart in this respect and certainly it is a change that is long overdue. As I understand it in the field of Law Reform, the main parties involved are the Law Reform Com- mission, the Department of Justice and the Attorney General and through him the Parliamentary Draughtsmen. By 31st December, 1988 the Law Reform Commission had formulated and submitted to the Taoiseach 27 Reports con- taining proposals for reform of the law as well as 11 Working Papers, a Consultation Paper and 10 Annual Reports. The number of recom- mendations contained in those reports that have been enacted into law is depressingly few. Various reasons can be advanced to explain why this is so. Amongst them being Public Service cutbacks which means that where previously there were ten Civil Servants of Assistant Principal or higher rank

Irish Stenographers Limited (Director: Sheila Kavanagh)

Qualified Experienced Stenographers. Fast, efficient service. Overnight Transcripts by arrangement

Contact: Secretary, "Hillcrest", Dargle Valley, Bray, Co. Wicklow. Telephone: 01-862184

265