The Gazette 1996

GAZETTE

C O

R R E S P O I M D E N C E

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1996

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Letter from

Andrew Dillon

, Solicitor.

Dear Colleagues

I have just attended my first Council

meeting. 1,500 colleagues voted for

me in response to a letter which I

wrote on October 26 last. I thank all

sincerely for that. I hope that I will not

be intimidated into letting down the

side.

I expressed views in my letter which I

assume appealed to the 60% of the

electorate who voted for me. I

expressed serious interest in Finance

and Public Relations and the user

friendliness of our Society. I

commented on the huge number of

committees and the Presidential

election. I was elected by a record

vote. To me that means not that I am a

popular guy - I'm not - but that I

touched nerves and expressed views

held by many of you.

Well, let's get straight to the results. I

asked the Director General,

Ken

Murphy

and Registrar,

P.J. Connolly

to transmit to the powers that I should

like to sit on the Finance Committee,

the Public Relations Committee and

the Registrar's Committee. I foolishly

thought that 1,500 votes from

members of the Society would hold

some sway. I regret to tell you that I

was placed on the Registrar's

Committee and the Parliamentary and

Law Reform Committee which I know

is so dear to all your hearts.

At the Council meeting we had the

usual farcical election of President,

Senior Vice-President and Junior Vice-

President.

Paddy Glynn,

the out-going

President, told us how he had waited

so long for his turn. It finally came. In

a moment of levity he continued, "I

didn't set out to change the world and

am not over-concerned that I didn't."

Andy Smyth,

who then took the chair

on his totally amazing and surprising

election told us how honoured he was.

He told us that he had waited 18 years

for this day. One has to wonder why.

Is it good for business or the ego or

both?

Frank Daly

who scraped through

by the skin of his teeth with the second

lowest number of votes in the election,

is obviously a popular choice for

President next year. He too will be

amazed and honoured to be elected in

due course.

Anyhow, I had the temerity to raise the

committee issue at the appropriate

time. I was informed by the President,

Andy Smyth,

that it was a well-known

rule that only Council members with

seniority were allowed to sit on

Finance. After some dispute about this

Bruce Blake

who reminded us that

he had sat on the Council for 30 years

(!) told us that it was a well-known

tradition. So there you are! Tradition

rules. The bloke who hung around for

18 years was elected President. He

gets to choose who sits on what

Committee. You elected me to try to

help you and try to get stuck into a

phase of renewal. Your President has

tried to ensure that I shall have little or

no opportunity to achieve anything.

Certain things occur to me

immediately with regard to the

Council. Firstly, there is a similarity to

being elected to the back benches of

Parliament or alternatively, to

obtaining Ministerial office, if one

happens to be a Chairman of an

important Committee. Once elected,

the Council can decide to do more or

less what it likes. Matters which can

be, and indeed are, of great concern to

the profession are discussed in private.

Motions are passed and decisions are

made which can impact greatly on the

profession but about which the

profession as a whole may know

nothing. It would seem preferable if

one were to be placed in a position

where one can discuss certain matters

at Bar Association level, obtain a view

and then express that view along with

one's own view at Council.

There is also a rather tedious tradition

which gives the President for the time

| being a great deal of influence. You

must firstly remember that the

President is not elected by popular

choice or for any particular

meritorious reason. As soon as he is

elected, he adopts this position which

demands great respect and deference.

To disagree with the President or to

criticise the President is heard and

seen by the majority of those sitting

around the Council table as being

generally non-u, disrespectful and

letting the side down.

This position of influence enables the

President and indeed the Senior Vice-

President to pass comment on a huge

variety of matters which concern you

and I. Often times you will read in the

newspaper that the President has made

such and such a statement which might

be completely misinterpreted by a

media happy to criticise us. This is a

danger.

Being an ordinary Council member is

a little like being a back bencher in

that one can obtain more information

more freely but actually getting

anything done, or even getting it

discussed, can be a major problem.

Anyhow unless a topic for discussion

is introduced from the top it will

receive only the most cursory attention

and will thus be buried.

A part of the brief for the Review

Working Group was to address some

of these problems. As you have

gathered the profession at the last

AGM decided that an Extraordinary

General Meeting would be called early

in 1996 and preferably before March

the 8, to discuss the Review Group's

report. I urge you to read the report.

You should then read it again and I

think try to meet with your local Bar

Association to discuss it. When the

arguments are over you should try to

take the time to come to the EGM.

There will doubtless be points with

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