The Gazette 1989

GAZETTE

APRIL 1989

From the President . . .

Extract from Address to the

Annual Conference of the Incor-

porated Law Society of Ireland

at Killarney by the President

Maurice R. Curran on the 5th

May 1989.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies

and Gentlemen,

CHANG I NG T I MES

The times in which we live and

the pace of change and develop-

ment in the world all around us

fascinate me. I have been twenty-

eight years in practice as a Solicitor

and in that time legal offices have

been transformed both in the

equipment they use and the

services that they deliver.

Indeed one of the joys of 1989 is

the speed at which business can be

carried out with the assistance of

modern technology.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Legal offices and solicitors in

general have moved with the times,

adapted to new technology,

increased their productivity and,

with the assistance of C.L.E.

Courses provided by the Society,

have kept their knowledge and

skills up to date.

In comparison what we have got

from the Government in the same

period?

A Land Registry, where it takes

over 12 months, on the Govern-

ment's own admission, to com-

plete a dealing.

A Land Law and Conveyancing

system in which there has not been

a major reforming Act in this

Century.

The Society has proposed to the

Government that the Land Registry

should be converted into a self

financing corporation run on com-

mercial lines with the necessary

staff and other resources to install

and develop the requisite tech-

nology to comply with the

demands of the profession and the

public for speedy registration of

property transactions.

I can see no reason why the

Companies Office should not be

treated similarly. The Government

is committed to a National Devel-

opment Plan which will commit

greater resources to the develop-

ment of physical infrastructure in

terms of regional development. I

am not aware that any of these

funds have been allocated to the

bringing up to standard of the

infrastructure of the legal system,

be it the Land Registry, the Com-

panies Office or the Courts.

However I am pleased to say the

Department of Justice with the

Department of Finance and the

Land Registry are at present having

a study made of the staffing needs

of the Land Registry. This I might

say is in reaction to considerable

pressure from us.

We have also been informed

recently that feasibility studies

have shown that computerisation

of the Central Office of the High

Court is viable and should com-

mence next year.

PERSONAL INJURY - NO

FAULT COMPENSAT ION FOR

MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE

Can I turn now to a current

problem to which we must find a

solution — professional medical

negligence claims such as the

Dunne

case which is currently

heading back to the High Court

after a 15 day hearing there and 3

days in the Supreme Court.

Leaving aside the costs which of

course are enormous, the stress

involved in this kind of action for

the parents of the child for the

Gynaecologist and for the manage-

ment and staff of the hospital are

extreme.

The Chief Justice, in his Judg-

ment said and I quote, "I am neither

aware of nor insensitive to the

massive burden both emotional and

practical which these proceedings

have imposed upon the parties for

both the parents of the infant and

the Medical Practitioners whose

conduct has been impugned".

There has to be a better way of

handling this type of case. Surely

in this sophisticated age compen-

sation for personal injury in medical

negligence cases should not

depend on proving fault or error.

Can we not come up with an

annuity insurance system under-

written by the Government of no

fault compensation as has been

managed in some other countries?

I also think that in medical

negligence cases the system of

awarding capital sums should be

replaced with an annuity payable at

so much per year for the duration

of the life of the injured party. This

would reduce the cost of this type

of claim for the future.

SUPREME COURT APPEALS -

WRI TTEN SUBMI SS I ONS

As a separate point, there is

something wrong with our judicial

system when it takes thirteen days

to hear an appeal from a fifteen day

trial.

Can we not move towards the

American system where on appeal

a great body of the submissions are

in writing and there is very limited

oral presentation. This is also the

practice in the European Court with

which some of our Advocates should

by now have become familiar.

I believe in its own interest the

Supreme Court, which is building

up a heavy backlog of cases,

should apply a new regime to those

that appear before it and limit the

time for oral debate.

COMPET I T ION AND FREE

MOVEMENT

Not only here but very much so

in a host of countries including the

U.K. the profession is being sub-

jected to critical review in the name

of the Great God of the 1980's -

free market competition. Let me

quote to you from the Scottish

Consultation Paper on the Legal

Profession: —

"The government has encouraged

a preference for the market

mechanism as a means of alloc-

ating resources. Any restriction on

the free supply of services is a

distortion of a competitive market

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