The Gazette 1987

GAZETTE

MARCH

19 87

this

Issue

Viewpoints

Alibi Notices

Legislation, 1986

Stamp Duty and

Mergers

The Judge in Ireland

Correspondence

In Brief

Professional Information

Executive Editor:

Mary Buckley

Editorial Board:

Charles R. M. Meredith, Chairman

John F. Buckley

Gary Byrne

Daire Murphy

Michael V. O'Mahony

Maxwell Sweeney

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GAZETT

INCORPORATE D

LAWSOCIET Y

OF IRELAND

Vol. 81 No. 2 March 1987

Viewpoints

Solicitor TD's

A significant feature of the

recent Dail elections was the

increase in the number of

Solicitors elected T.D.'s. The

trend in recent years is for the

number of lawyers, who previous-

ly had been the best represented

professional group in the Dail, to

decline. In the 1987 election one

Solicitor, David Molony, did not

seek re-election and one sitting

Deputy, Liam Cosgrave Junior,

was defeated but, against these

losses in numbers, seats were won

for the first time by Dermot Ahern,

Anne Colley, Charles Flanagan, Pat

McCartan, John O'Donoghue and

Brian Swift. They joined their re-

elected professional colleagues,

Patrick Cooney, Brian Cowen,

Thomas Enright, Thomas Fitz-

patrick, James O'Keefe, Desmond

O'Malley, Alan Shatter and Mervyn

Taylor.

It is to be welcomed that

solicitors have been elected to

represent the entire spectrum of

political parties in Dail Eireann.

It is good to see that the younger

members of the profession are

taking an active interest in politics

at this level. Solicitors have a good

deal to contribute, not only as

legislators, but also as people

whose professional calling gives

them a particular insight into the

difficulties which face a citizen in

contemporary Ireland.

Congratulations

Congratulations are due to John

L. Murray S.C. on his appointment

as Attorney General. In con-

gratulating him, some words of ap-

preciation of his predecessor would

not be amiss.

At the time John Rogers took

office he was the subject of a good

deal of criticism, much of it relating

to his youthfulness and alleged in-

experience. His performance in of-

fice has brought widespread praise

and nowhere more than in relation

to his work in tackling the problem

of compensation for the Stardust

victims. By arranging for the

establishment of the Tribunal,

which has made awards to hun-

dreds of victims, he brought to a

sane and caring conclusion a situa-

tion which was rapidly becoming a

public scandal. It had been abun-

dantly clear that the normal pro-

cesses of litigation through the

Courts were not going to provide

a solution to the victims' claims for

damages. It was a situation in

which the State had to accept

responsibility to fund the compen-

sation and the manner in which the

Tribunal was established and

operated has received widespread

approval.

Whether the former Attorney-

General's work in endeavouring to

re-vitalise the operations of the

Law Reform Commission will be

successful remains to be seen. To

date external factors have

prevented a number of its recom-

mendations being implemented.

John Rogers took such steps as

seemed to him to be necessary in

establishing the new Commission.

It remains for the Commission and

it's legislative masters to prove

that his faith was not misplaced.!

GAZETTE

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