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OPINION POLL ON SOLICITORS
Mass-Observation recently conducted an enquiry
taking a representative sample of 2,000 men and
women and enquired as to what contact they had
had recently with solicitors and how they had
fared in such dealings. While the statistics relate
to England they may be of some interest to the
profession. As many as one in five of those ques
tioned had come into contact with a solicitor
within the last twelve months. Of these contacts
approximately half related in one way or another
to property deals.
How satisfied were those who had been to a
solicitor? About
two-thirds reported
that
they
were very satisfied and another quarter that they
were fairly satisfied. One in ten of those ques
tioned said that they were not at all satisfied, the
reasons most commonly being given for dissatis
faction were that the solicitor had been slow or
that he had been inefficient,
the incidence of
each of these complaints being about equal.
cards. Last year, approximately
thirty million
Christmas cards were sold
in
this country, of
which practically 90 per cent are imported. It is
estimated that each household
in
the country
spends about 17/2 on Christmas cards each year.
If even an additional 5/- of this amount were
spend on Irish-made cards, it would mean the
creation of almost 300 new jobs in this industry
alone, apart altogether from resultant increases
in employment among the various suppliers to the
industry—paper manufacturerers, etc.
As the members of your organisation are recog
nised as leaders in their own communities, we feel
that their influence could achieve a great deal in
helping the promotion of Irish goods and services.
I
look forward to having the opportunity of
meeting you at some future date. In the meantime,
I wish you continued success
in
the excellent
work which your organisation is doing.
Yours sincerely,
John McMahon.
Director General.
CORRESPONDENCE
BUY IRISH
National Development Association.
3 St. Stephen's Green, N., Dublin 2.
22 October 1968.
Mr. Eric Plunkett,
Secretary, Incorporated Law Society of Ireland,
Dublin 7.
Dear Mr. Plunkett,
As you are probably aware, one of our main
functions in this organisation is
to promote the
sale of Irish goods and services.
I feel that it is hardly necessary to point out to
you that more money is spent on consumer goods
at Christmas than at any other time of the year.
During the past few years, the standard of Irish-
made goods suitable as Christmas gifts has risen
considerably, so that it now compares very favour
ably with that of equivalent imported articles. We
would, therefore, request that you point out to
your members and encourage them by every means
in your power to ensure that as many as possible
of the articles which they purchase as presents or
for their own use at Christmas are of Irish manu
facture.
Some people may not buy Christmas presents,
but almost everyone sends at least a few Christmas
ESTATE DUTY SIMPLIFIED
Office of the Revenue Commissioners,
Estate Duty Branch,
72-76 St. Stephen's Green S., Dublin 2.
llth November 1968.
E. A. Plunkett, Esq.,
Secretary, Incorporated Law Society of Ireland,
Solicitors Buildings, Four Courts, Dublin 7.
Dear Mr. Plunkett,
At the beginning of the year you were good
enough to arrange publicity in the
Gazette
for
our new simplified form of Inland Revenue Affi
davit.
I enclose a copy of the correspondence
which passed between us at the time.
Unfortunately, in a very large number of cases
the twelve-page form A is still being used where
the single-leaf form A-l would be the appropriate
form. This has completely upset stock position
with the result that our supply of A forms which
should have lasted twelve months was exhausted
in five with considerable inconvenience both to
the solicitors' profession and to ourselves. I per
sonally have had complaints as to the non-avail
ability of these forms but, strictly, we were not
to blame for that position.
Apart from upsetting our stock estimates the
non-user of form A-l would make impossible plans
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