The Gazette 1994

GAZETTE

O R R E S P O N D

. .

E N C E

MARCH 1994

\ v

Master Leases

The Editor,

Gazette

Dear Editor,

In 1983 Allied Irish Banks Pic and

The Irish Farmers' Association with

the co-operation of the Incorporated

Law Society of Ireland and the Royal

Institution of Chartered Surveyors

launched a Master Lease for the long

term leasing of land. The Master

Lease was the result of considerable

work done by representatives of AIB,

IFA, the Law Society and the Royal

Institution of Chartered Surveyors

during which I represented IFA. The

Master Lease, as a precedent, was

made available to practitioners and

others through AIB and I understand

was reasonably widely used between

then and now.

With the on-set of the scheme of Early

Retirement from Farming in

implementation of Council Regulation

(EEC) No. 1079/92 it is believed

that the Master Lease will be used

much more than heretofore and it has

been decided by AIB and IFA to update

! the Master Lease to take account of

I changes in the law since then.

i The undersigned is advising IFA in

this regard and the purpose of this

letter is to request any practitioners

who may have used the Master Lease

and who may have encountered any

anomalies or problems to write to me

at the address below so that any such

; anomalies or problems can be given

due consideration.

Yours etc.,

! Brendan Walsh,

| Brendan Walsh & Partners,

18 Herbert Street, Dublin 2,

Tel. 6762207. Fax 6612175

The Editor,

Gazette

Dear Editor,

I must take issue with the short review

of Brownlie's

Basic Documents on

Human Rights,

which appeared in the

January/February edition of the

Gazette, with the byeline "JFB". This

piece, by means of contradiction, error

and misplaced opinion, fails to do

justice to a work which continues to be

relied on by grateful practitioners and

students alike.

The weaknesses of the review are well

displayed at the paragraph in which the

book is assessed in terms of

applicability to the war in the former

Yugoslavia. Here the reviewer fails to

acknowledge the generally recognised

distinction between the disciplines of

human right law and humanitarian law.

Also, he or she would appear not to

realise that human right law applies

throughout the former Yugoslavia and

plays a central role in informing

international responses to the tragedy.

Such unfamiliarity with the field leads

the reviewer to make unfair criticism of

the Brownlie work.

Problems again crop up in the review's

penultimate paragraph. What does the

reviewer mean by, "the socio-political

era"? Indeed, what is meant by the

phrase, "the collection of European

Conventions, principally that on Human

Rights", given that all the European

instruments included in the book are

about human rights? More importantly,

why does he or she suggest that only the

European instruments might be of use to

the practitioner? Surely Ireland's recent

experience with regard to the

International Covenant on Civil and

Political Rights has demonstrated the

considerable practice potential for

solicitors willing to acquaint themselves

with global human rights law.

Then there are the comments

concerning the book's index. These

seem especially misplaced given the

Brownlie's work is a compendium of

source documents and not a text book or

monograph. Indeed, the index seems to

be on par with others in the genre and

entirely satisfactory for research

purposes.

Addressing the issue of the size of the

index, the review ends with the

comment that, "the high reputation of

the Oxford University Press is sadly

diminished by such a fall from

acceptable standards". Might one not

appropriately redirect these words to

"JFB" and the

Gazette?

Yours etc.,

Michael O'Flaherty,

Solicitor,

United Nations Centre for Human Rights.

Willie O'Reilly, RIP

The Editor,

Gazette

Dear Editor,

Brian and I wish to thank all of you

for your support and sympathy on the

death (on 20 November, 1993) of a

much loved husband and father . . .

Willie.

To the President, Council, Director

General and staff of the Law Society,

the Dublin Solicitors' Bar

Association, the Society of Young

Solicitors, and to others in the

profession who also attended the

removal and the funeral and to those

who wrote us such beautiful letters

with mass cards, from all over the

country, many thanks.

It was especially poignant to see so

many ex-auditors as, of all his

commitments, the Debating Society