GAZETTE
M
W
H
OCTOBER 1993
Society Publicises Submissions
The Law Society was the instigator of
two major news stories during the
month of September, the first one at a
press conference at which the Society
and the Bar Council launched their
joint submission to the Minister for
Justice,
Maire Geoghegan Quinn
, on
the future of the courts service in
Ireland. The second was when the
Society released details of its
submission to the Government
criticising the proposals by
Seamus
Brennan
, TD, to place a limit on the
amount that could be awarded for pain
and suffering in personal injuries
claims.
Executive Agency to manage the
courts
The joint Law Society/Bar Council
press conference to highlight
recommendations on the future of the
management and structure of the
Courts service was widely reported in
the national media. The President of
the Law Society,
Raymond Monahan,
and the Chairman of the Bar Council,
Frank Clarke,
SC, were interviewed
on RTE TV bulletins on the evening
of 22 September.
Raymond Monahan
said that underfunding and poor
management of the Courts over the
years had meant that condition of the
courts service now amounted to a
national disgrace while
Frank Clarke
pointed out that the degree of delay
was such that, of itself, it could lead
to injustice. The following morning
the Director General of the Law
Society,
Noel Ryan,
was interviewed
on
Morning Ireland,
RTE Radio 1, in
which he outlined the proposals in the
submission concerning placing the
management of the courts service
under the control of an executive
agency headed by a director.
The submission received extensive
coverage in the
The Irish Times, Irish
Independent, Irish Press, Cork
Examiner
and
Daily Star
and
Evening
Press
of 23 September. A supportive
editorial in the
Cork Examiner
said
"the views of two such influential
bodies must be taken on board by the
Government and a national appraisal
of the whole Courts system instigated
as a matter of urgency." Writing in the
Irish Times
of 24 September, 1993,
Adrian Hardiman,
SC, praised the
joint submission and said "with a little
money and far more imagination than
has ever previously been invested, a
fully effective courts system could so
easily be provided." Over the
following week a number of members
of the Council of the Law Society
gave interviews on the submission to
their local radio stations relating the
points in the submission to the
problems in their own areas.
In the
Sunday Independent
of 26
September, 1993, it was reported that
the President of the High Court,
Mr.
Justice Liam Hamilton,
was opposed
to the idea of an executive agency to
to manage the courts service and that
a number of judges shared his view,
because they believed such an agency
would undermine their independence
as guaranteed by the Constitution. The
article also reported that the
Government was on the point of
setting up a Commission to examine
the courts service which would have
representatives from the practising
professions, consumer groups, trade
unions, employers as well as the
Presidents of each of the Courts and
the Attorney General.
The Irish
Independent
of 4 October, 1993,
reported that extra judges were to be
appointed by the Government in an
effort to clear the backlog of court
cases but that the Minister of State at
the Department of Justice,
William
O'Dea,
was not in favour of the
proposal of an executive agency.
Instead, the Government would press
ahead with a Commission.
Minister's proposal criticised
On Sunday 26 September last, the
Law Society released details of its
submission to the Government
criticising the proposal by the Minister
of State for Commerce & Technology,
Seamus Brennan,
TD, to place a limit
on the amount that could be awarded
for pain and suffering in personal
injuries claims. (See also Viewpoint
on page 289). The submission
received extensive coverage in the
national newspapers on the morning of
Monday 27 September with headlines
such as "Law Society Against
Compensation Limits" (
Irish Times)
"Lawyers Say Plan to Cut Claims
Cash Unworkable"
(Irish
Independent).
The Director General of
the Law Society,
Noel Ryan,
was
interviewed on the 1.00 pm, 6.00 pm
and 9.00 pm RTE TV bulletins on that
day. He reiterated the arguments in the
submission that the Minister's
proposal would be unjust, unworkable
and could well be unconstitutional.
The Director General of the Society
and the Minister of State subsequently
debated the issue on the
Pat Kenny
Show,
RTE Radio 1, on 6 October, the
Minister maintaining that the Irish
public no longer wanted to pay itself
so much in compensation, while
Noel
Ryan
argued that the focus should be
on reducing the number of claims
which arise and questioned the
validity of the Minister's assumption
that reducing compensation for pain
and suffering would lead to a
reduction in insurance costs.
Civil Legal Aid fees rejected
Earlier in the month the Society's
recommendation to members of the
profession not to participate in the
pilot scheme of Civil Legal Aid put
forward by the Minister for Equality
& Law Reform,
Mervyn Taylor,
TD,
because of the inadequacy of the fees
being offered, was reported in the
Irish Times, Irish Press, Irish
Independent
and
Cork Examiner
of 10
September, 1993. Most of the
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