The Gazette 1992

GAZETTE

NOVEMBER 1992

The Cha l l enges Ahead

May I firstly express my gratitude to

the Council for the honour of

electing me as President of the

Society for the coming year. The

office of President is a tremendous

challenge having regard to the

responsibility involved and the peak

of involvement and activity to which

recent Presidents have brought the

office.

No President could function without

the whole-hearted support of the

administration in Blackhall Place.

During this year the administration

has been strengthened by the

appointment of new personnel in

various departments with a view to

improving the level of service to

members. In addition, the support of

ordinary members of the profession

is crucial to the effective operation

of the Society whether through

involvement in Council, its

Committees or in the Law School.

At the moment over 600 Solicitors

give generously of their time and

talent in assisting the Society. My

heartfelt thanks goes to these

members with an assurance that

their valuable contribution is much

appreciated.

Under the Presidency of

Adrian

Bourke

unity between the Society

and the profession was greatly

developed as reference to the two

Extraordinary General Meetings on

the Solicitors (Amendment) Bill,

1991 and Finance Act, 1992 and

also the campaign on criminal legal

aid fees will vouch. It is my hope

that during the coming year the

Council and Committees will

continue to reflect adequately the

views of the profession and can

again count on the support of its

members.

Major Issues

The Society will seek the re-

introduction of the Solicitor's

Ray Monahan, newly-elected President of

the Law Society

(Amendment) Bill by a new

government and will seek the deletion

of the objectionable parts of the Bill,

particularly the proposed inroads into

the traditional areas of Solicitors' work.

Claims against the Compensation

Fund continue to cause major

concern and publicity. Annually,

a small number of defaulting

solicitors effectively hold the entire

profession to ransom. In addition to

the Society's present campaign to

ensure a statutory cap on the level of

any one claim, an urgent and

fundamental review of the Fund and

its operation is now required. I

intend that this will be undertaken

immediately.

The Society's campaign to ensure the

appointment of Solicitors as Judges

in the higher courts has met with

considerable sympathy. I intend to

continue this campaign and I hope

that the Government will introduce

appropriate legislation at the earliest

opportunity.

There are also a number of issues

which I would like to address during

my period of office.

Review of Education Policy

As a former chairman of the

Education Committee I have a deep

interest in education policy. I note

and will be supporting the Education

Committee in its review of present

policy to meet concerns about both

numbers and standards. The

Society's new policy will be

developed side by side with the work

and ideas of the Joint Council on

Legal Education recently established

to review legal education generally

under the chairmanship of Judge

Ronan Keane.

Resourcing the Justice System

Members of the profession at local

level are now expressing deep

dissatisfaction with many present

aspects of the legal system,

principally the serious delays in the

Circuit and High Courts, poor

courthouse accommodation generally

and inadequate facilities for the

hearing of family law cases, the lack

of understanding by members of the

judiciary of their role in family law

cases, inadequate back-up staff in

the courts particularly in the Circuit

Court and inadequate facilities for

solicitors and barristers. There would

seem to be a clear case of wholesale

neglect in so far as the

administration of justice in this

country is concerned. There are also

problems experienced by the

profession arising out of the failure

of the Government to legislate to

reform many aspects of the criminal

and civil law and that legislation

itself is inadequately prepared and

promulgated.

I am conscious that a start has

been made in creating the Land

Registry and Registry of Deeds into

a Semi-State body and in the

improved terms for solicitors

involved in criminal legal aid work. I

hope that with prompting from the

Society the Government's

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