The Gazette 1989

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GAZETTE MARCH 1989
In
this
Issue
Viewpoint
President's Column 127
Class of 1956 -
Where are they now? 143
EC Company Law 145
McGabhann v.
Law Society 146
Professional Information 1 53
*
Executive Editor:
Mary Gaynor
Committee:
Geraldine Clarke, Chairman
Eamonn G. Hall, Vice-Chairman
John F. Buckley
Gary Byrne
Patrick McMahon
Charles R. M. Meredith
©aire Murphy
John Schutte
Advertising:
Seán Ó hOisín. Telephone: 3 0 5 2 36
3 0 7 8 60
Printing:
Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford.
*
The views expressed in this publication,
save where otherwise indicated, are the
views of the contributors and not
necessarily the views of the Council of
the Society.
The appearance of an advertisement in
this publication does not necessarily
indicate approval by the Society for the
product or service advertised.
Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.
Tel.: 7 1 0 7 1 1. Telex: 31219. Fax: 710704.
A I I 7 r T T r INCORPORATED
I I I / L I I L LAWSOCIETY
M M / r I I r OF IRELAND
W ^ » • I H i Vol.83 No.4 April!
Viewpoint
The recent survey of Courthouses,
conducted by the Law Society, has
produced several startling, if not
altogether surprising, statistics. It
is quite clear that of the 103 Court-
houses surveyed, the majority fell
far short of the very minimum
standards that might be expected.
The practitioners and members of
the public who have had occasion
to attend courts have long been
familiar with the difficulty in
actually hearing what is going on.
It is not unusual for a client to leave
court and then proceed to ask his
solicitor to tell him what has
happened. Sometimes, the client
won't even know if he has won or
lost. Where amplifying facilities
have been provided, they have
often been inadequate or are ill-
maintained.
In addition, practitioners have
long been familiar with the
dilapidated decorative conditions of
Courthouses and probably most
practitioners have felt that their
local Courthouse is merely an
exceptionally bad case rather than
the rule. The Law Society's Survey,
covering as it does such a large
number of Courthouses throughout
the country, shows clearly that the
standard right across the board and
in all regions is abysmal. Added to
the long-standing and well-known
problems mentioned above the
survey shows most Courthouses to
be inadequately heated, the
majority to have no consultation
rooms, to be in a dilapidated state
of repair and in very many in-
stances to have inadequate toilet
facilities or none at all. It would
appear that little or no money or
attention is being given to the
provision of these facilities, funda-
mental as they are to the provision
of justice in the State and the main-
tenance of the democratic process.
The Courts worst affected,
although by no means exclusively
so, are the District Courts which
deal with the largest number of
cases both in the criminal,
matrimonial and civil fields.
Dissatisfaction with judical
systems, and a feeling of alienation
are the inevitable result for the
parties, witnesses, family and
friends attending a case where they
cannot hear what is going on. Add
to this the difficulty of people who
have waited for some hours for
their case to be called without the
most basic of facilities including
easily accessible toilets. People
subjected to such treatment can
hardly be expected to form a
reasonable opinion as to whether
justice has been done.
The root of the problem appears
to lie with the division of responsi-
bility between central government
and its various departments and
local authorities. It is clear that
neither government nor local
authority is prepared to contribute
any significant resources to the
maintenance of Courthouses
unless forced to do so. The cynic
might attribute this to a lack of
votes in the issue.
High Court proceedings were
commenced before improvements
were introduced to one local Court-
house while, in several instances
well documented by the Press,
District Justices have.had to refuse
to proceed with the court's
business before such problems as
rat infestation and leaking roofs
have been tackled. In some cases
the state of the local Courthouse
has been so embarrassing to the
solicitors practising in the area that
they have had to "whip around"
and have contributed money out of
their own pockets to have basic
facilities provided.
The duty to provide "Justice" is
sometimes seen as purely the
preserve of the lawyer. However,
Justice is a much wider issue,
fundamental to the running of our
State and our system of Govern-
ment based as it is on the inter-
relationship between the three
arms of the executive, adminis-
tration and Courts. Lawyers, be
they Solicitors, Barristers or
Contd. on pmgo 121
115