The Gazette 1971

that there was a dispute—whether a trade dispute or not—in existence, but it was now apparent that this industrial action would not have taken place had three men, in particular, been reinstated in their employment. In the interests of future good relations he wondered if the company could not agree to take these three men back pending the Labour Court investigations and sug- gested that if the company, as a result of these investi- gations, were held to be right all along, that the union would agree to reimburse the company the salaries of these men in the meantime, if the Labour Court held that they had been properly dismissed. Such a suggestion, Mr. Justice Butler said, would have the effect of "holding" the dispute until it was properly investigated; the men would all be back at work : the company would be back in production and everybody would be happy. "I am only putting this out as an agreement in which each side gives something, and let the matter proceed to the Labour Court." At the Judge's suggestion, both sides withdrew to consider the matter and when the court resumed, Mr. Liam Hamilton, S.C., for the defendants, said that agreement had been reached between the parties to go back to the Labour Court. Mr. Justice Butler asked was this on the basis that the strike was over and that everybody went back to work? Mr. Costello said that was so. Mr. Justice Butler: This is clearly on the basis that all industrial action is off and that the factory goes back to work until the determination by the Labour Court. In the event of the Labour Court recommending that the form of redundancy introduced by the com- pany had been justified the union would repay to the company the amount of wages paid in the meantime to the three particular employees. The Irish Times (3rd April 1971) Note : Unfortunately this dispute was not settled, and the Trade Union Congress have now authorised a general strike in the factory. A new body, to be set up under a Bill published yester- day, is to advise Finance Minister Colley oh the organ- isation and personnel of the public service—all civil servants, Army, Gardai, teachers and, possibly, state and semi-state companies. As well as providing for the new body, the Public Service Advisory Council, the Bill also envisages the creation of a Department of the Public Service. This Department will automatically come under the control of the current Finance Minister. Generally, the provisions of the Bill are as expected, since the acceptance by the Government of sections of the Devlin Report relating to restructuring of the public service. The Council will advise the Minister on the organ- isation of the public service and on matters relating to or affecting personnel in the service. It may also be asked by the Minister to produce a report on a specific problem relating to,the service. The Bill also, according to some interpretations, gives the Council power to bring within its scope a variety of state and semi-state bodies, since the defini- tion of "public service" in the Bill includes bodies 17 MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES (AMENDMENT) BILL, 1971

£1,500 to £9,400 price range are proposed so that registered fees would become 75 per cent rather than the present two-thirds of unregistered fees. Above £9,000 fees would be cut. At £20,000 the Board has proposed that scale charges should be abolished and that solicitors should charge only a fair rate for the work done. On mortgages the Board recommends that the present complex mixture of statutory and non-statutory scales should be replaced by a new statutory scale with charges set at 40 per cent of those for conveyancing of registered land. On a £5,000 house it would reduce the charge for a mortgage completed at the same time as a purchase to £19.50 compared with £29 at present if unregistered, or £21.87£ if registered. The Board found that the costs to solicitors of arrang- ing a purchaser's mortgage was on average only 32 per cent of the amount charged and so even more profitable than other conveyancing work. While the practice continued of one solicitor being able to act for both buyer and seller, his charges for the transaction should be reduced to one and a half times the scale charge, to be apportioned equally between the vendor and purchaser. Further, consideration, says the Board, should be given to achieving a "more simple, cheap and reliable" system of registered conveyancing. Land registry fees should be related more closely to the work involved. The Board points out that while conveyancing was highly profitable, there was no evidence that levels of remuneration in the profession as a whole were too high. Profits from conveyancing were used to subsidise other less remunerative forms of work. "The nature of a solicitor's work is such that it is neither desirable nor practicable to attempt to eliminate cross-subsidisation completely, though we have before pointed out—and the profession itself recognises—that there are serious disadvantages in the present inbalance." A reduction now of £6 million in conveyancing fees had to be coupled with the £5 million increase that the profession received last February when scale fees for conveyancing cheaper properties were raised. A net reduction of £1 million had to be seen in the light of the increases to county court and legal aid fees made after the board's second report in November 1969. [Prices and Incomes Board, Report No. 164, Remun- eration of Solicitors, Stationery Office, 50p.] The Daily Telegraph (2nd April 1971)) DISPUTE GOES BACK TO LABOUR COURT After a suggestion made by Mr. Justice Butler during the hearing of a motion for an interlocutory injunction in the High Court yesterday, representatives of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union and Unidare Ltd., Finglas, agreed to go back to the Labour Court to have their dispute further investigated. On Tuesday last, the company had been granted an interim injunction restraining seven employees and an official of the union from picketing its premises and the premises of an associated company, Anodising Ltd., of McKee Avenue, Finglas. Mr. Declan Costello, S.C., was making submissions on behalf of the company when Mr. Justice Butler intervened to say : "I don't know what the rights and wrongs of this dispute are. Already the Labour Court has taken six days in dealing with this matter which is obviously one of immense complexity." Mr. Justice Butler went on to say that it was apparent