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Local Authority Solicitors Association
A Seminar was held by the Local Authority Solicitor's
Association in the Clarence Hote, Dublin, on Friday
13 April 1973. The programme was as followfe:
9.30 a.m.—Address of Mr. Peter Prentice, Senior Vice-
President, Law Society, who declared the seminar
open.
10.00 a.m.—A Paper entitled "Aspects of Compensation
for Compulsory Purchase".
Speaker
:
Matthew Purcell, M.A., LL.B., former
Solicitor to Dublin County Council.
11.45 a.m.—Aspects of Planning Control.
Speaker
: Donal M. King, Solicitor, Cork County
Council.
The lunch was preceded by a Reception in City
Hall, at which Mr. Matthew Macken, Dublin City
and County Manager was host.
1.00 p.m.—Lunch at which the President of the Law
Society attended.
2.30 p.m.—"The implications of the decision in Dutton
v. Bognor Regis U.D.C." (1972) 1 AER 462.
Patrick P. O'Sullivan, Solicitor, Dublin. A note of
this case appears in the Gazette at page
4.00 p.m.—Open forum at which Mr. Brendan Kiernan,
B.L., Legal Adviser and Mr. Michael Murphy,
B.L., Assistant Legal Adviser Department of Local
Government attended.
7.00 p.m.—Dinner.
Mr. Prentice, Senior Vice-President of the Law
Society, speaking at the lunch on behalf of the guests,
stated that he was deputising for the President of the
Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, who sent his very
best wishes to the members of the Association present
and greatly regretted his inability to be present.
The Seminar which the Association described as their
second venture, was much more to Mr. Prentice's mind
an established fact than a venture and was of such
excellence that the event is worthy of being repeated
each year. The benefits of a Seminar, Mr. Prentice
said, for those engaged in or practising in Local Govern-
ment is that the members can discuss and talk over
problems and this is all the more important in the
Local Government Code which was described by the
late Mr. Justice Gavan Duffy in the case of
Devanney
v. Dublin Board of Assistance
(1949) I LTR 113 as
"the vast domain of services under our local governing
bodies where the relevant law is hard to ascertain and
sometimes hard to construe". The late Mr. Justice
Gavan Duffy recognising the complexities of the local
government law described it as "terra incognita" and
1 think that this is an apt description.
Mr. Prentice referred to the absence of suitable text
books on various local government subjects. He stated
that there was no publication on "Public Health" since
Vanston's "Public Health" was published in 1913 and
that Street's "Local Government", which was published
in 1955, needs revision. Mr. Prentice suggested that the
Association might think well of recording their dis-
cussions and publishing the papers read at the Seminars,
that these could be extremely valuable to the members
of the profession in general, and that he felt that if the
papers were given to the Editor of the Law Society's
Gazette, that the Editor would be most pleased to
publish them and this would be done free of cost to
the Association.
He thanked Mr. Macken, the Gity and Comity
Manager, Dublin, for attending the Seminar and re-
ferred to the friendly relation between the Incorporated
Law Society and the County Manager's Association.
In 1956 an agreement had been entered into between
these parties which had placed Solicitors in the local
authority service in parity with Engineers and Doctors
and this agreement has stood the test of time and is still
greatly appreciated.
He also welcomed Mr. William Dundon, newly
appointed Law Agent to Dublin Corporation, and
wished him well in his new and onerous post.
The guests at the luncheon included Mr. Liam J.
Lysaght, Chief State Solicitor, Mr. Patrick Morris.sey,
Assistant City and County Manager, Mr. Eric A.
Plunkett, Secretary of the Law Society, Mr. Brendan
Kiernan, B.L., Legal Adviser, Department of Local
Government and Mr. M. Murphy, B.L., Assistant Legal
Adviser of the same Department.
Mr. William Dundon formally welcomed the guests
on behalf of the Association.
The Association's Annual General Meeting was also
held on that day and the following Officers were
elected :
Chairman
: Michael J. Leech.
Secretary and Treasurer
: Dermot Loftus.
Committee
: Messrs. Timothy Murphy, Peter A. Fitz-
patrick, Donal M. King, Henry Murray and Wil-
liam Dundon.
The chairman, Mr. Leech, in the course of the pro-
ceedings read a letter of apology for non attendance
from Mr. John A. Young, City Solicitor, Belfast Cor-
poration, who wished the Seminar every success.
Irish Cases on Evidence
by
J.
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R.
COLE
DUBLIN, MERCIER PRESS, 1973
Price — £3.50.
(This book is on the course for the Second Law
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