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It had been intimated to him through the crier that
no objection would be taken to an attorney engaged in
a case sitting in the Inner Bar seat beside his senior
counsel.
The resolution was allowed to drop.
The Secretary then stated on the part of the Council,
and as a matter of information to the members of this
Society, that the Royal Commission had been opened
on Friday, May 26th last, before Lord Monck and Mr.
Lefanu, two of the commissioners therein named, that
Messrs Christopher Palles, Q.C., Robert W. Shekleton,
and Gerald Fitzgibbon appeared on behalf of this
Society. That Mr. Palles stated the case of the attorneys
in a very able manner, and that the commissioners had
made an order that the following returns should be
furnished on or before June 20th to Mr. M. J. Barry,
their secretary, by Mr. O'Hanlon, under-treasure, act-
ing on behalf of the Benchers of the King's Inns, viz. :
A return of the sums received from 1793 to 1866 from
attorneys as "Deposits for Chambers", specifying the
amount received each year and the number of attorneys
who paid; an account of the manner in which the
money has been applied, and disposed of, and a return
of the amount of Government Funds, the property of
the Society of King's Inns since 1793. And that Lord
Monck had stated that, after receipt of the returns
ordered,. the Commissioners would appoint a day for
inspection of such parts of the Solicitors' Buildings as
were now in possession of the Society of Attorneys and
Solicitors, and would subsequently appoint a day for
next sitting of the Commissioners.
Mr. Henry Mills : That is a very satisfactory state-
ment indeed. I am sure this Society ought to feel much
obliged to the Council for the way in which they have,
so far, managed this matter, and we hope they will
continue their exertions, and that the result may be
satisfactory.
On the motion of Mr. Ellis, the standing orders were
suspended so as to allow Mr. Rea to propose the follow-
ing resolution, which having been seconded by Mr. W.
Roche, was adopted, viz. : "That the secretary be auth-
orised to take subscriptions from all solicitors (not being
members in 1870), without making any demand f )r
alleged arrears due before 1st May 1871."
Mr. Barlow, V.P., was then called to the chair, and
the thanks of the meeting having been unanimously
voted to Sir R. J. T. Orpen, President, as chairman, the
meeting separated.
U.C.D. Legal Advice Centre
Between 50 and 60 per cent of the clients of the UCD
Free Legal Advice Centre have serious marital problems
it was revealed today. The causes of the problems
are very complex but the main one is economic.
The chairman of the centre, Mr. Brian Gallagher
said today that of those who make use of the free legal
advice, 55 p.c. are "working class," 30 per cent are
"middle class" and 5 per cent are "upper class."
He added that because ours is a competitive society,
a man without work feels inadequate and consequently
takes it out on his wife. In 50 per cent of the cases
violence in the form of fisticuffs mainly was involved
and in a small number axes and knives were used, said
Mr. Gallagher.
"Drink is a result, as well as a cause, of this and 30
per cent of the cases involved very heavy drinking or
alcoholism while 60 per cent involved moderate to
heavy drinkers," he added.
Priests as Counsellors
Mr. Gallagher went on to say that lack of recreation-
al facilities is also a very real problem and because of
this young couples are forced together under unsavoury
conditions.
"The Free Legal Advice Centre found that many
forced marriages resulted from this, due to pre-marital
intercourse and pregnancy. These marriages invariably
fail. Forty per cent of the organisation's marital prob-
lems were in the first ten years of marriage, especially
from those who get married under 21. Because these
had to live with in-laws, the subsequent overcrowding
increased the pressure on them," he added.
Mr. Gallagher went on to say that the lack of sym-
pathetic marriage counselling gave the couples even
less chance of success. "Though priests in general tend
to be more concerned with the rigid application of the
moral law, there are a limited number who are very
helpful. The Marriage Guidance Clinic in Westland
Row — the only one operating in the city — does
valuable work, but was completely inadequate to deal
properly with the situation."
Reconciliation
Though he mostly blamed husbands who were "in-
variably less mature than their wives" he said that her
nagging and refusal of sexual relations was also decisive.
However, the wife usually only refused when another
child would be a danger to her health or could not
be supported. In these cases either the couples did not
know about contraceptives or they were unwilling to
use them.
The marriage contract in Ireland can only be dis-
solved by "deed of separation" where both parties
agree or by divorce where one is unwilling. Mr.
Gallagher thought that though full divorce caused
more problems than it would solve, separation, if made
easier and handled by the Circuit Court instead of the
High Court would help many people. Because there
are no courses in marriage law in the Republic and
most solicitors consider marriage cases to be difficult
and prolonged, they are unwilling to undertake them
and prefer reconciliation if possible. However, where
they were 11 per cent successful in achieving deeds of
separation the organisation had only a 5 per cent
success rate in effecting reconciliation.
Only seven per cent of their cases were initiated
by the husbands and the remaining 93 per cent were
by the wives. In 7 per cent of these, adultery was
quoted as a cause and "highly unnatural sex offences
against the wives" were responsible in a further seven
per cent.
Surprisingly, 75 per cent of their cases were in
families of less than five children and only 25 per cent
among larger families, Mr. Gallagher said.
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