The Gazette 1994

JULY 1994

GAZETTE

notice and consultation for specified

classes of local authority

development. Part XIII specifies

certain classes of development by

State authorities for the purposes of

section 2( 1) (a) of the

Local

Government (Planning and

Development) Act, 1993,

and the

provisions of the

Local Government

(Planning and Development) Acts

will not apply to development so

specified. Part XIII also establishes a

procedure of public notice and

consultation for certain of the classes

of development specified for the

purposes of section 2(1) (a) of the

1993 Act.

Photographed

at the 21st Anniversary of

The Irish Society for European Law

were some of

the speakers, l-r: Tony Collins, BL; Judge Tom O'Higgins, John Cooke, SC; Vincent Power,

Solicitor, Chairman of the Society; John Handoll, Solicitor; Judge John Murray and Gerard

Hogan, BL.

Parts X and XIII, and article 9(1) (a)

in respect of certain classes of

exempted development came into

operation on June 15, 1994. All other

provisions of the regulations came

into operation with effect from 16

May, 1994.

The regulations may be purchased

from the Government Publications

Sales Office, Sun Alliance House,

Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 or by

post from Government Publications,

4/5 Harcourt Road, Dublin 2, price:

£22 plus £1.20 postage.

•

P r e s i d e n t ' s M e s s a g e

(Continued from page 171)

towards others. At times, Council

Members report 'feedback' from the

profession that the Society is seen as

sometimes too inclined to presume

that every complaint against a

solicitor is valid and well-motivated

and too inclined to take the side of the

complainant. A solicitor who is the

subject of what he sees as an

unreasonable complaint may very

well feel that way, but both the public

interest and our own self-interest as

an independent self-regulating

profession requires that the

complaining client is recognised as

the weaker party and that any

partiality that might arise in the

process of investigating a complaint

should be towards that weaker party."

Michael V. O'Mahony

President

A r e Y o u r B o o k s i n

O r d e r ? ??

(Continued from page 175)

account for the benefit of the client at

the principal bank to the practice

of the solicitor. The obligation,

however, is subject to any

arrangement which may be made in

writing between a solicitor and a client

for the application of the client's

money or interest.

Good accounting pays

The Compensation Fund Committee

frequently emphasises that solicitors

should look upon

and use

their

accounting records as a management

resource; that to be an effective

management tool the records must be

written up to date at all times. The

periodic updating of accounting

records on a historic basis (for

example, yearly or monthly),

does not

constitute compliance with Regulation

10 of the Solicitors Accounts

Regulations, (other than in extremely

exceptional circumstances where the

number of financial transactions

handled is infinitesimal). The 1994

update of the Handbook of the

American Institute of Certified Public

Accountants defines accounting as a

"discipline which provides financial

and other information essential to the

efficient conduct and evaluation of the

activities of any organisation". The

information which accounting

provides is essential for: (1) effective

planning, control and decision-making

by management and (2) discharging

the accountability of organisations to

others. Where the organisation in

question is a solicitor's practice, the

discharge of its accountability to

clients is paramount. To be

meaningful the information available

for these purposes must be current

and up to date, not merely historic.

Daniel Defoe

propounded

the same message in 1774 when

he wrote:-

A tradesman's book (of account) are

his repeating clock, which upon all

occasions are to tell him how he goes

on, and how things stand with him in

the world; there he will know when

'tis time to go on, or when 'tis time to

give over . . . His books being so

essential to his trade, he that comes

out of his time without a perfect

knowledge of the method of

bookkeeping . . . knows not what to do,

or what step to take. (Ibid)

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