The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

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

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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