The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

N E W S

NOVEMBER 1993

"Paltry" Legal Aid Criticised

Addressing a parchment ceremony on

(Friday) 22 October at which 58

newly-qualified solicitors were

admitted to the profession, the then

President of the Society,

Raymond

Monahan,

criticised the Government

for a system of Civil Legal Aid,

administered through Law Centres,

which had now been proved to be

completely inadequate having regard

to the present demand for legal redress

in our community. "Those in need of

vital legal services and who cannot

afford them must now wait for

extraordinary lengths of time, in some

cases between six and nine months, to

have even their urgent legal problems

addressed in the Law Centres. Many

more who find that they are ineligible

under the paltry limits for legal aid are

being forced to endure injustice if they

cannot afford the services of a lawyer.

How can the Government possibly

state that there is equal access to

justice in this country? Surely it is now

time to recognise the right of access to

justice as a fundamental human right

on a par with the right to education,

the right to health services and so on?"

he asked.

"Today I want, once again, to call on

our Government to recognise the

urgent need to improve and develop

our system of civil legal aid so that

equality of access to justice can be

properly recognised and become a

reality. I know from discussions with

him that the Minister for Equality and

Law Reform, Mr.

Mervyn Taylor TD,

formerly a solicitor, very much wants

to achieve this end and I want to make

it quite clear that this Society and this

profession will support the Minister in

any effort he makes to introduce a

comprehensive legal aid scheme.

Unfortunately, the pilot scheme

recently introduced by the Minister

completely fails to recognise the value

of the services provided by solicitors

in family law cases and I would

therefore urge the Minister to

commence discussions and

negotiations immediately with the Law

Society so that we can both agree on

the optimum scheme. We are well

aware of the financial constraints

under which Government operates but

at the same time we believe that, with

proper organisation, a comprehensive

scheme can be introduced at

reasonable cost," said Raymond

Monahan.

"The Minister should also take into

consideration that at the moment the

unmet legal needs of the community

are being dealt with by the solicitors'

profession on a

pro bono

or voluntary

basis. It is a tradition of our profession

that nobody seeking legal redress will

be refused such because of their

inability to pay and I would urge all of

your qualifying today to continue with !

this tradition and to continue to assist

those who do not have the means to

help themselves and who are

frequently unable, through no fault of

their own, even to begin to address

their legal problems. It is wrong

however, that through the failure of

the State to provide a proper legal aid

service solicitors should be expected

ad infinitum

to take on cases without

payment so that people can have their

rights vindicated. If the concept of

access to justice means what the

Constitution of this country proclaims

then this regrettable state of affairs

must be ended and ended quickly. It is

essential that the legal profession

draws attention to these matters on

behalf of the public because it seems

to us that nobody else will."

Solicitors are giving employment to

thousands of people

Raymond Monahan told the newly-

qualified solicitors that the

contribution solicitors make to the

economy needed recognition. "At a

time when the media seem frequently

to focus on the very high earnings that

some very few members of the

profession can command for their

highly skilled services, it is sometimes

forgotten that the vast majority of

solicitors work hard, in the face of

intense competition, to make ends

meet and to give employment to

others. Maintaining this employment

is increasingly difficult for many at

this time of acute economic recession.

Law firms in this country are creating

worthwhile employment for thousands

of people

and this is something that I

feel ought to be given much greater

recognition. As lawyers, we would, of

course, - in common with everybody

else - like to see the economic

environment more conducive than it is

to the creation of employment. It is

now high time that the Government

began to dismantle the many economic ;

barriers there are to the creation of

additional employment. I am referring,

primarily, of course, to the very hostile ;

tax environment that we have in this

country where income tax and pay

related social insurance can now

consume up to 56% of an employee's

wages - above very low thresholds -

and where employers face what is, in

reality, a crippling taxation burden on S

employment.

"I am also thinking, in this context,

about other matters which make it

difficult for lawyers to provide legal

services at

moderate

cost. Value

Added Tax, stamp duty

and

court fees

all add substantially to the cost of

providing legal services but, of course, |

clients frequently forget that these are S

charges solicitors have to pay

on their

behalf.

In recent years, we have seen

further impositions, such as residential

property tax, and, in the present year,

the new probate tax, which I have,

' with others, criticised. The effect of

recent changes in relation to

residential property tax is that

solicitors will not be able to complete

conveyances of houses without

clearance certificates from the

Revenue Commissioners and this will

only add further burden to the

complications of these transactions

and cause additional delays."

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