The Gazette 1996

GAZETTE

APRIL/MAY 1996

The f o l l ow i ng is a letter received from

James Bardon, Director General, The

Irish Bankers Federation concerning

banking references.

Mr. And r ew F. Smyth,

President,

Law S o c i e ty of Ireland,

Blackhall Place,

Dublin 7.

Status Enquiries System

Dear Mr Smy th

I write to advise you, and through you

your members, of the forthcoming

c h a n ge in the Status Enquiries S y s t em

as operated by banks here.

A s you kn ow, banks have for years

facilitated enquiries raised by

customers of one bank regarding the

financial status of customers of

another bank. Wh i le this has served

the interest of customers and

banks alike, the basis for i n v o l v i ng

the enquirer's bank and the

enquiree's bank has been the subject

of review.

From 3 0 April 1996, a bank c u s t omer

w i s h i ng to process a Status

Enquiry about another bank's

c u s t omer can address his enquiry

directly to that c u s t ome r 's bank.

Be f o re proceeding, he must first

obtain the written c o n s e nt of the

c u s t omer in question, and must

then e n c l o se with his enquiry the

enquiree bank's fee. A special

C o m b i n e d S t a t us E n q u i ry a n d

C o n s e nt F o r m is available from all

I BF -memb er banks.

By eliminating the routing of Status

Enquiries the replies through the

enquirer's bank, and by requiring the

prior c o n s e nt of the c u s t omer about

w h om the enquiry is made, the n ew

s y s t em will provide for greater

e f f i c i e n cy and transparency all round.

The charge for a Status Enquiry, n ow

inclusive of VAT, remain at the

existing level.

I h o pe that y ou will be in a position to

relay this information to your

membership. If you have any queries,

please get in contact with me.

Yours sincerely,

James

Bardon,

Director

General,

The Irish Bankers

Federation,

Nassau

Street,

Dublin

The Editor,

The

Gazette,

Law Society of Ireland,

Blackhall Place,

Dublin 7.

Building Society Mortgages

Dear Sir,

Wh y has the solicitors' profession

which is supposed to be skilled in the

art of negotiation and, indeed,

reputed by certain sections of the

media to be avaricious, a l l owed itself

without a wh imp er to be manipulated

by certain lending a g e n c i es into

investigating Title (and e f f e c t i v e ly

personally guaranteeing same) and

attending to the mountain of paper-

work i n v o l v ed in securing their

mortgage absolutely free of any

charge whatsoever (with the corollary

that we are totally e x p o s ed in the

event of the slightest f l aw )?

Lending a g e n c i es have slyly avoided

the prohibition contained in the

Building So c i e t i es Act on charging

their legal costs to borrowers by the

ingenious d e v i ce of getting the

borrower's solicitor to do their legal

work for free. If an account for

services rendered is furnished it

will either be ignored or referred to

the borrowers for payment wh o, of

course, will be aware of the fact

that they have no obligation to pay

the lenders' solicitors' fees. If the

lender is advised that the solicitor is

not prepared to do their work free of

charge, then the lender is likely to

advise the borrower to e n g a ge the

services of a solicitor wh o is

prepared to work for the lender

free of charge. This practice is not

g o i ng to end unless the solicitors'

profession as wh o le unanimously

agree that legal services will not be

provided to lending a g e n c i es free of

charge in any circumstances. Is there

any possibility that we could e v en

agree on that?

Yours faithfully,

Richard E.

McDonnell,

Richard E McDonnell

& Son,

Market

Square,

Ardee,

Co. Louth.

The following is a letter which was

received by Stanley Siev, Solicitor,

from An Post concerning multiple

claims. It is published here at Mr

Siev's suggestion for the information

of the profession.

Messrs Stanley A Siev

Solicitors

Ge o r g e 's Chambers

31 Aungier Street

Dublin 2

Re: Your Client - Mr. X

Accident - 3 January, 1996.

Dear Sir

I acknowledge receipt of your letter of

the 22nd inst and note contents thereof.

Your letter is the eighth letter of claim

received in relation to this incident

from eight different firms of solicitors.

I have been advised that from enquiries

carried out there is no An Post vehicle

registered 9 5 - D - 3 66 nor do w e have a

Postman/Driver named Patrick Do y l e.

If you have any further information

which would enable me locate the

papers I wo u ld be obliged.

Given the number of solicitors

involved I cannot deal with this claim

until it is established wh o is acting for

Mr. X. The other solicitors involved

are as follows:-

A list of s e v en solicitor a r e set o ut in

Mr . S i e v 's letter b u t a re n ot

p u b l i s h ed h e r e.

| Please contact these solicitors to sort

j who will represent Mr. X.

| Yours faithfully,

Christopher

Cronin,

! Legal

Executive,

An Post.

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