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GAZETTE
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990
existing notaries in the applicant's
county and the surrounding
counties are notice parties, as also
are the Law Society and the
Faculty. When the Faculty receives
notice of an application it considers
the application under three head-
ings:
1 .ability of the applicant to perform „
the functions of a notary;
2.facilities to carry out such
functions; and,
3 .the need for appointment in the
particular area.
1. Ability of the Applicant
The Faculty takes the view that
practising solicitors of at least
three years' standing are quali-
fied to carry out the functions of
a notary public. The Faculty is
further of the view that whereas
it is not strictly necessary to be
a qualified solicitor to be able to
perform the funcitons of a not-
ary (and, as referred to earlier,
there are at present four non-
solicotor notaries), by and large
the Faculty feels it would have
to look carefully at any applica-
tion by a non-solicitor for
appointment as a notary be-
cause most of the work of the
notary is of a legal or quasi-legal
nature and as time goes on with
'1992' and all it entails is
becoming more so.
2. Available Facilities
The Faculty assumes that any
solicitor in private practice as a
principal or partner has the nor-
mal office facilities necessary to
duly carry out the functions of
a notary; although where a sol-
icitor applicant is not a principal
within the firm where he works
then the question of his availa-
bility to the public as of right
and his availability to the office
facilities should be clarified in
the making of the application.
3. Need for the Appointment
The Faculty takes the view that
the question of need is one to
be decided on each individual
application. A growth in popula-
tion and industrial and com-
mercial activity can create new
needs in an area. A solicitor
who has a number of clients
who need the services of a
notary from time to time would
not thereby necessarily estab-
lish a need in the area because
that solicitor, if appointed a
notary, would not be in a
position to notarise his own
existing clients' documents -
in the same way as a solicitor
commissioner for oaths would
not take his own clients'
affidavits. At the present time it
is the Faculty's view that there
are few, if any, areas of the
country where there is at
present a need for another
notary public. Also, it is the view
of the Faculty that if a vacancy
arises due to the death of an
existing notary that the Faculty
would favour an appointment
from among any surviving par-
tners of that deceased notary.
Where there is more than one
applicant to replace a deceased
notary and where the Chief
Justice is disposed to making
one appointment only then the
Faculty would favour the
applicant who is the longer or
longest in practice as a solicitor
in the particular area. It is of
interest to note that in Northern
Ireland there are only 16 notar-
ies as apposed to 140 in the
Republic of Ireland and this is
reflected in the small volume of
work individually performed by
the latter. Notaries in this
jurisdiction have told me that
they are averaging half a dozen
to a dozen notarial acts in a
year. Also, in the not too distant
past, a notary, now deceased,
was reluctant to pay his - then
£10 per annum - subscription
to the Faculty on the basis that
this would leave him in a nett
loss situation! However, follow-
ing on his death that notary's
solicitor son applied to be
appointed in his stead so,
perhaps, the position is not to
be viewed purely in financial
terms.
In addition to the above three
heads of consideration of an
application, the Faculty also wishes
that it be made clear by an appli-
cant that he has no intention or
expectation of moving the location
of his practice. It is obvious that if
there be a need in a praticular area
and the Chief Justice fills that need
by appointing a notary then that
area would be deprived of the
services of the notary if there was
a material change of his practice
location shortly following on such
appointment.
When the Faculty has taken a
view, on the above bases, whether
to support or oppose an applicaiton
it would become my function, as
Registrar, to swear an affidavit
setting forth that view. This affi-
davit procedure has the advantage,
where the Faculty is opposing an
application, of making the applicant
aware, in advance and without the
embarrassment of an oral objection
in open court, of the nature of such
objection.
It is incumbent upon a notary to
keep a record of each notarial act
performed, sufficient to enable him
to confirm, if such be the case, that
he carried out a particlar notarial
act on a particular day, if, for ex-
ample, documentation subsequent-
ly went astray in transit between
Ireland and another country.
A more detailed history of the
notary public, and the forms nec-
essary for the making of an
application for appointment can be
found in E. Rory O'Connor's book
"The Irish Notary". As Registrar of
the Faculty, I am available to
answer any queries in relation to
the appointment as, or functions
of, the notary.
•
The Editorial Board would like to
congratulate Niall McGarrigle, a member of
the Law Society staff, who recently won 1st
Prize in the O.Z. Whitehead Playrights com-
petition. While this annual competition is
only open to Irish citizens at home and
abroad, it is worthwhile noting that previous
winners of this prestigious award include
such names as Francis McGuinness, Bernard
Farrell and Aodhan Madden.
Niall's play, a comedy entitled:
"Busy
Hands are Happy Hands"
is about a sit-in at
an office, and is currently undergoing the
close scrutiny of the readers of a well
established Dublin theatre, where it may be
performed later this year.
For the record Niall was educated at CBS
Monkstown Park and UCD. He has been
working with the Law Society for the past
four years. We wish him every success in the
future.
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