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and preventive medicine, in law reform and the
emergence of the industrial engineer.
I believe, however, that the first approach must
be a strictly functional one. Though differing from
business in the measurement of performance and
responsibility, we must, nevertheless, recognise that
the professions merchandise a line of products
entitling the consumer to ask how good is the
production system, the producer, the man-power
supply, the quality control and how the cost is
measured. We cannot claim to serve the public
interest if we are not seen to be concerned with
the most effective and economic use of resources.
Much of our work is, after all, a component ele
ment in a social or economic activity, part of a
business project related directly to productivity.
Much of the recent criticism directed against
the professions is, I think, largely due to a mis
understanding by the public of professional func
tions, standards of performance and responsibility.
Law, for example, as an instrument of order by
which society works out its purpose is not a uni
versal concept; the privacy and inviolability of the
doctor-patient relationship
is not popular with
administrative bodies. It is commonplace that pro
fessional people frequently enjoy a status in their
professional circles not accredited to them at work.
For this situation, the professional are, perhaps,
themselves largely to blame. Public relations have
not heretofore been their special concern. Never
theless, how things are thought about, has a good
deal to do with what is thought about. We must
try and reach some understanding of why people
think what they do. In this area, there is clearly
much to be done. The public must be made aware
of the nature and range of the benefits which
society can expect from the professions. There
must be some explaining to promote understand
ing. We must not be seen to inhibit change.
If we accept the duty to mould as well as to
heed public opinion, we must widen our outlook.
The complexity of society
leads
to
increasing
specialisation. We tend to know more and more
about less and less and to take the limits of our
field of vision for that of the world around us.
There is, however, nothing more stultifying then
"trained incapacity of the narrow expert". The
esteem and prestige which a profession commands,
is, I suggest, dependent upon the breadth of its
members. To encourage this, I would advocate the
development of multi-lateral relationships between
professional bodies. Specialised knowledge needs
to be supplemented by the capacity for seeing the
interraction of several disciplines. We must make
better use of the data of economic and social life.
Each profession must be seen as part of the total
life of society, not as a self-sufficient compartment.
I would like to see the Federation as the co
ordinator and
integrator of related bodies of
specialised knowledge.
Finally we have endeavoured to establish con
sultative co-partnership with government, but so
far without success. Our application for represen
tation on the N.I.E.G. has not yet been granted.
When that body was inaugurated, it was referred
to by the Taoiseach as an "Institution of formal
machinery through which the advice of persons
representing the main sectors of the community is
made available to the Government". In the Third
Programme, the institutional arrangements pro
posed in, support of a prices and incomes police
envisage a central body advisory in character and
representative of employers, unions and Govern
ment. It is frustrating that the so-called "elite"
should be still acting the part of "the spy who
came in from the cold".
I suggest that there are extensive and expand
ing areas in which study and research is called
for. These embrace public realtions, restrictive
practices and competition in the professions, busi
ness and management training for the conduct of
professional practice, the role of the professions in
administrationa nd public enterprise, the profes
sions and education,
the merits of
the multi-
professional firm (i.e. embracing several profes
sional occupations),
the stoppage of the brain
drain, etc.
COMPLETION OF SALE AND PURCHASE
Commissioners Fees on Memorial
The Council have decided to make a practice
recommendation to members in the interests of
convenience that the commissioner's fee on the
affidavit appended to the memorial of a deed
should be paid by
the vendor's solicitor and
charged to his own client. This would avoid un
necessary accounts and would in the long run be
in the general interests of clients and their solici
tors. It is hoped that members through the country
will adopt this practice. The fee is always paid by
the vendor's solicitor in the first instance and the
benefit of transferring its incidence to the pur
chaser is hardly worth the inconvenience and petty
expense involved.
INTERNATIONAL SUMMER COURSE OF
LEGAL ASPECTS ON EUROPEAN
INTEGRATION 1969
This course, organised by the "Europa Institute",
of the University of Amsterdam in co-operation
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