The Gazette 1994

GAZETTE

1994, in particular, the argument that

it was unlikely that any Minister could

guarantee that if compensation awards

were reduced there would be a

corresponding reduction in the cost

of premiums.

Remarks by the Hon. Mr. Justice

Hugh Flaherty,

Senior Ordinary Judge

of the Supreme Court, at a book

launch, when he argued that the view

that workers rights should be

sacrificed for increased profits should

have no place in our legal system,

were published in the

Evening Press

of 8 February 1994. The Judge said

there was a misconception among

some lawyers and legislators that the

law of civil wrongs was a glorified

and expensive social welfare system.

"The personal injury compensation

system recognises the premium which

a democratic society places on the

citizen's interest in the recognition,

and protection, of his right to bodily

integrity," he said.

Public Liability Claims

The RTE

Tuesday File

programme

screened on 15 February examined the

growth in public liability claims,

particularly claims that were regarded

as fraudulent and the financial effects

of having to meet claims on local

authorities around the country. The

programme noted an increase in the

number of claims being brought since

1989 when solicitors started to

advertise. The Director General of the

Law Society,

Noel Ryan,

who was

interviewed on the programme,

pointed out that in a pro-competition

environment advertising was regarded

as good for the consumer and this

had led the Society to permit

solicitors to advertise although many

in the profession had been opposed

to it.

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Tribunal

The front page of the

Irish Independent

W H

APRIL 1994

on 21 February highlighted the case of

a woman who had been awarded £490

by the Criminal Injuries Compensation

Tribunal last June, but had been

informed that it would be at least

another two years before she would

receive payment. The President of the

Society,

Michael V. O'Mahony,

was

interviewed on RTE Radio News-at-

One about the Scheme of Compensa-

tion for Personal Injuries Criminally

Inflicted. He pointed out that since

1986, when the Tribunal's power to

award compensation for pain and

suffering under the Scheme had been

abolished, the scope of the Scheme had

; become too narrow. "It is grossly

unfair to the ordinary citizen who is the

victim of a criminal assault through no

fault of his own that he should be

excluded from the right to claim for

pain and suffering," he said.

•

Barbara

Cahalane

N e w C o mm e r c i a l L a w J o u r n a l L a u n c h ed

A new commercial law journal

The

Commercial Law Practitioner

was

officially launched recently by An

Taoiseach,

Albert Reynolds

TD.

Published by Brehon Publishing

Limited the journal will appear

monthly and will providd'authoritative

articles on important areas of

commercial law as they affect

practitioners. The editor of the journal

Thomas Courtney,

Solicitor

and the Executive Editor is

Bart Daly.

The new journal will contain select

articles targeting the needs of the

commercial law practitioner; a digest

of recent company and commercial law

cases; updates on company and

commercial law and recent

developments overseas. Each issue will

review banking, commercial litigation,

insolvency, commercial conveyancing,

company law, international commercial

law, arbitration and taxation. The

Commercial Law Practitioner will

retain an independent expert panel to

Bart Daly, founder of Brehon Publishing Limited and Executive Editor of The Commercial

Law Practitioner, at the launch of the publication.

ensure consistently high quality

contributions.

The annual subscription to the journal !

is £165 and it is available from

Brehon Publishing, Brunswick House,

Brunswick Place, Dublin 2.