The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990

this

Issue

Viewpoint 3

Enforcing Maintenance

Obligations through

the Welfare System

Practice Notes 9

President's Column

Lawbrief

Disciplinary Committee

Annual Report

Younger Members News 17

SYS News

People & Places

Occupational Diseases —

The problem of time

Notaries Public in Ireland 27

SFPS Update

Correspondence 36 Professional Information 37

Executive Editor:

Mary Gaynor

Committee:

Eamonn G. Hall, Chairman

Michael V. O'Mahony, Vice-Chairman

John F. Buckley

Gary Byrne

Patrick McMahon

Charles R. M. Meredith

Daire Murphy

John Schutte

Advertising:

Seán Ó hOisín. Telephone: 305236

Fax: 3 0 7 8 60

Printing:

Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford.

—

The views expressed in this publication,

save where otherwise indicated, are the

views of the contributors and not

necessarily the views of the Council of

the Society.

The appearance of an advertisement in

this publication does not necessarily

indicate approval by the Society for the

product or service advertised.

Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.

Tel.: 710711.

Telex: 31219.

Fax: 710704.

GAZETTE

INCORPORATE D

LAW SOCIETY

OF IRELAND

Vol. 84 No. 1 JanJFeb.1990

Viewpoint

This Journal has regularly criticised

the operation of the Civil Legal Aid

Scheme, usually in conjunction

with the publication of the Annual

Reports. While these Reports them-

selves have been exemplary, unlike

many reports of similar bodies they

actually updated the information on

the operation of the Scheme as

nearly as possible to the date of

publication, the tale which they told

was almost invariably a sad one.

The recent resignations of the

President of the Law Society and

the Chairman of the Bar Council

from the Civil Legal Aid Board have

drawn public attention to this

'Cinderella' service.

The criticisms which this Journal

has made of this Scheme over the

years still remain unanswered. The

Scheme has never been set up on

a proper statutory basis which after

10 years is really quite extra-

ordinary. The under-funding of the

Scheme in most of the years of its

operation has led to the deplorable

situation whereby many of its cen-

tres are closed for significant

periods except for "urgent" cases.

As the vast majority of the cases

which the Scheme handles are

family law cases, it is reasonable to

wonder whether there are many

that are not "urgent".

The rigid adherence to the

ideology that legal aid should only

be provided through centres has led

to a most inadequate service being

provided in rural areas. Again, with

most of the cases being family law

cases it is reasonable to assume

that in a significant number of

cases both parties to the dispute

will require the services of the

Scheme. In the absence of any

private practitioner involvement

this means that one of the parties

is likely, in rural areas, to have to

travel significant distances to

consult with one of the Scheme's

solicitors.

The Scheme appears to have

been a victim of the long-standing

belief of the Government that the

provision of a service is evidenced

by the presence of a building from

which the service is supposed to be

delivered.

It was particularly disappointing

to find that the recent Budget did

not appear to indicate any intention

to provide any relief. In the past it

has been noted that the pressure

for additional funding has only been

met on an 'ad hoc' basis. It is long

past the time that the Civil Legal

Aid Scheme be put on a proper

statutory basis, properly funded

and widened to include some priv-

ate practitioner services particu-

larly in rural areas.

•