The Gazette 1994

GAZETTE

APRIL 1994

Minister was opposed by a "powerful

self-interested lobby group in the Law

Society and Bar Council."

An editorial in the

Irish Times

on 15

March entitled "Death at Work" said:

"it is utterly unacceptable that 63

workers should have died as a result

of accidents at work last year - a

death rate twice that which applies to

workers in Britain - and that 13,000

should have suffered injuries or

illnesses as a result of being in their

places of work."

The

Irish Independent

and

Evening

Herald

of 26 April 1994, reported that

Dublin Corporation was commencing

a policy of counter-claiming costs in

cases that were dropped before going

to court. Computer cross-checking and

checks with other public bodies were

also being carried out and detective

agencies were being employed in an

effort to identify unmeritorious

claimants.

Lawyers' Fees

The

Cork Examiner

of 14 March

1994, reported a statement by the

Chairman of the Dail Security and

Legislation Committee,

Dan Wallace

TD, in which he suggested that the

tendency by some members of the

legal profession to overcharge might

be as a result of pressure to stay in

business in a highly competitive

market. He said it was important that

more emphasis be placed on

manpower planning "if we aré to

maintain a balance between providing

competitive rates for the consumer

while ensuring the viability of the vast

majority of our legal firms. Smaller

and younger practices are particularly

vulnerable." Deputy Wallace said that

the legal profession as a whole played

a vital role in our democracy. Writing

in the

Sunday Independent

of 3 April,

journalist,

Gene Kerrigan,

in an

article entitled "The sharing of the

spoils inside our court system", was

highly critical of the hierarchical

nature of the legal profession. "The

Beef Tribunal scandal, in which some

laywers appeared to be on the way to

millionaire status, is just part of the

bigger scandal, one of the chaotic law

business cloaking itself in the

trappings of prestige but widely held

in contempt," he wrote. The journalist

criticised no foal - no fee

arrangements where, he suggested, if

the case was won, a solicitor would

take 10% of the award as a fee over

| and above the party and party costs.

Support for Solicitor Judges

The

Irish Times

of 16 April reported

on comments by former Circuit Court

Judge,

Frank Martin,

when he

: criticised as "absolute discrimination"

the fact that solicitors could not be

appointed as judges of the Circuit and

Higher Courts.

Barbara Cahalane

•

SADSI NEWS

The main highlight of the past month's

events was a pub quiz, disco and

pound-a-pint night which took place in

the Banker's Club on St. Stephen's

Green on Wednesday 30 March.

The pub quiz proved to be an

extremely competitive affair with the

various teams pitting their

"intellectual" wits against each other

in an effort to win the prize money.

Many thanks to

Michael Lynn

for his

able job as quizmaster and to

Paul

Carolan

who designed the questions

for the competition. The quiz was

followed by a disco which allowed

apprentices to reveal their expert

dancing skills, no doubt aided to a

large extent by the copious amounts of

cheap pints on offer! We would

imagine that many solicitors noticed

their apprentices looking a little under

the weather the following day!

As regards future events, the highlight

of SADSI's calendar will be the

Midsummer's Ball

on Saturday, July

23 in The Great Southern Hotel, Eyre

Square, Galway. We are confident that

it will be an enormous success and, as

| it is on during a weekend, we hope to

see many revellers making not only a

night of it in Galway, but an entire

weekend as well! Within the next two

weeks all apprentices will receive

further details of the ball, along with

travel and accommodation

information. Tickets will be £20 and

| will be on sale from 7 June. It must be

| stressed that tickets are limited in

number, so please contact us early to

! avoid disappointment.

As mentioned in previous columns,

SADSI is busy working on your

behalf on the various pertinent issues

I which affect apprentices. One issue is

the Higher Education Grants Scheme

and apprentices' entitlements

thereunder.

Philippa Howley

reports

! as follows:

The Higher Education Grants

Scheme

Many apprentices will be aware of the

anomalies that exist in the Higher

Education Grants Scheme which, in its

| present form, has been in operation

I since 1992.

The exclusion from the Scheme of

apprentices who do not have a primary

degree and apprentices with post-

graduate qualifications (whether

previously grant-aided or not) are only

two examples of the inherent

injustices of the Scheme.

SADSI has been in correspondence

with the Department of Education

regarding the Scheme and I am aware

that numerous apprentices have taken

up the issue with their local

authorities and written directly to the

Minister for Education on the matter.

As a result of the foregoing, the entire

Scheme is now under review.

Department of Education officials

have indicated that a decision on the

matter will be forthcoming "in a few

weeks time". I will keep you informed

of all developments and would

emphasise that in any event all

apprentices should check their

entitlement to a grant with their local

authority.

•

Barbara Loftus

Paul Lavery

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