GAZETTE
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990
In
this
Issue
Viewpoint 3Enforcing Maintenance
Obligations through
the Welfare System
5
Practice Notes 9President's Column
10
Lawbrief
13
Disciplinary Committee
Annual Report
15
Younger Members News 17SYS News
19
People & Places
20
Occupational Diseases —
The problem of time
23
Notaries Public in Ireland 27SFPS Update
32
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.
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