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GAZETTE
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990
From the President
Since the last month's Gazette a
number of developments have
taken place and no doubt the
members of the Profession have
seen tne reports of some of these
in the media.
I issued a statement in January
regarding the increases in stamp
duty on court documents. Whilst
the increases in the High Court and
the Circuit Court were not very
large they still do considerably
increase the total expenditure in
taking an action in either of these
courts and this expenditure is very
often borne by the solicitor. The
increase however that caused me
the greatest concern was the
increase in District Court fees. The
increase of stamp duty on a Civil
Process and on a Decree were in
the region of almost 200%. In
many cases this will have the effect
of depriving a person of limited
means of having access to the
District Court. It seems contrary to
natural justice that the largest
increases should take place in the
Court of the lowest jurisdiction.
As many members will have
seen, I resigned from the Board of
the Civil Legal Aid Scheme on the
24th January last. At the same
time, the Chairman of the Board,
Mr. Nial Fennelly, S.C., Chairman of
the Bar Council, also resigned. The
reasons for our resignations have
been widely publicised and my
hope is that the publicity which has
been given to this will have some
effect in forcing the Government to
fund a proper scheme. It seems to
me that initially there could be
great improvement if more flexibil-
ity was given to the Scheme and
there could be an involvement of
the private practitioner.
Membership of the Solicitors
Financial and Property Services
Company has been increasing
steadily and the amount of bus-
iness written has produced com-
missions in excess of £250,000.
Extra Consultants have now been
employed by Sedgwick Dineen and
I think that now a prompt and
efficient service is being provided.
I would urge all members to join
and support this venture which
enables the solicitor to provide an
extra and useful service to clients.
Lastly, I would like to refer to our
Annual Conference which is again
being held in the Hotel Europe,
Killarney, from the 3rd-6th May,
1990. Within the next couple of
weeks all members will receive the
brochure giving details of the
Conference. I think that it will be a
very interesting Conference in that
we have succeeded in obtaining
some distinguished and varied
Speakers. Jack Charlton, Manager
of the Irish Soccer Team and
Eamonn Barnes, Director of Public
Prosecutions, will speak on Friday
and Brian Coyle, the well known art
expert will give an address on
Saturday morning. I would
encourage all members to book
early and to support the Confer-
ence.
•
•fL
ERNEST J. MARGETSON,
President.
LAW SOCIET Y
Thursday, 3rd May
to
Sunday, 6th May
1990
HOTEL EUROPE
KILLARNEY
CO. KERRY
I R I S H B A N Q U E T I NG S E RV I C ES LTD
33 Mill Street, Dublin 8. Telephone: 531444. Fax: 532056.
Catering Excellence
For the grand occasion from Buffet to Banquet.
We create the simple, classical or spectacular.
CATERERS TO THE INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY
FUNCTION FACILITIES AVAILABLE AT BLACKHALL PLACE
10