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GAZETTE
JANUARY FEBRUARY 1980
increases in jurisdiction of this magnitude are brought
into effect, it would be the Society's view that the law
should be altered, so as to provide that Family Law
matters should be dealt with primarily at District Court
level with appropriate rights of appeal. The same, in the
Society's view, should apply to Criminal Injuries which
are sometimes at present dealt with in the Circuit Court at
excessive costs in relation to small cases.
He said that in the Society's view, any decision by the
Government to increase the jurisdiction of the lower
Courts, in particular the District Court, coupled with a
decision to give the District Court jurisdiction in relation
to Family Law matters and/or Criminal Injuries, will
make it absolutely essential that appropriate and adequate
new scales of costs are immediately provided to come into
effect at the same time as the increases in jurisdiction.
Secondly, and at least of equal importance, it will be
absolutely necessary that further Judges and Justices are
appointed 'and adequate accommodation provided. Up to
now, there has been a failure on the part of local
authorities, mainly due to financial problems, to meet
their obligations to provide adequate Court accommo-
dation in many parts of the country.
Commenting that it was very hard to understand why
this should be so, in the context of good hospital, school
and housing facilities, and in the Society's belief, neither
the public nor the profession will tolerate much longer the
present state of affairs in relation to Courthouse
accommodation. In view of the necessity to provide more
Judges at all levels, it is in the Society's view, highly
desirable that solicitors who, at present, are statutorily
excluded from judgeships of the High Court and the
Supreme Court, should no longer be excluded and that a
number of solicitors should be appointed in the first
instance Judges of the Circuit Court to which they can at
present be appointed, and at a later date, Judges of the
High Court, and, if necessary, the Supreme Court.
Mr. Hickey emphasised the role of the Society in
training new solicitors to meet increasing demands and
especially in giving them specialised training in advocacy.
He hoped that over a period of years, the appointment
of the number of solicitors as Judges of the Superior
Courts would improve greatly the relationships between
Judges, Bar and solicitors and make it possible for
solicitors to appear more frequently in the Superior
Courts without Counsel than they do now. In his view,
such an extension of appearance by solicitors in the
Superior Courts could only facilitate the speedy and
inexpensive administration of justice in relation to many
matters which now have to be dealt with at too high a cost
from the public's point of view.
Finally, he said that he would like to join the Presidents
and Chairmen of other organisations in their condem-
nation of the IBOA Executive for their complete dis-
regard of the public interest.
Speaking to the Report and in particular to the section
dealing with the work of the Conveyancing Committee
under the heading of Extension of Building Society
Vacate System to other Mortgagees, Mr. Eunan
McCarron, past President, repeated that the Society had
been endeavouring for over nine years to get this simple
reform introduced, and that successive governments had
failed to implement the required change. The required
change was simple but urgent. The President agreed with
4
Mr. McCarronn and said that the implementation of the
change would be given priority by the incoming Convey-
ancing Committee.
On the subject of Legal Costs, Mr. Houlihan
commented on the absolute failure of the Society to
achieve a satisfactory solution; it had been utterly
frustrated by the Government agencies and Ministers
involved on the other side. Mr. T. C. Gerard O'Mahony
enquired if the Society could follow the example of other
professional bodies and take strong action by
disregarding statutory restrictions. He pressed that the
matter be further discussed at a special general meeting at
the end of January. In reply, the President said that he
had found no support for strong action at the numerous
meetings throughout the country which he had attended,
and at which the problem of relating costs to increasing
expenses and overheads had been discussed. He did not
see the point of arranging for a further general meeting in
the very near future.
Bond Scheme
At the request of the President, Miss Carmel Killeen
drew the successful bonds as follows:
£100 Prize
Bonds Nos. 1095 and 1673
£500 Prize
Bonds Nos. 1182 and 1205
£250 Prize
Bonds Nos. 1716 and 1551
Annual General Meeting
This was fixed for 11.30 a.m. on Friday, 21st
November 1980.
Motions
The Director General informed the meeting that owing
to a typographical error, which had only just come to
notice, the words of the proposed amendment to Bye-Law
33 required alteration. With the consent of the seconder,
Mrs. Moya Quinlan, and of the meeting, Mr. John
Buckley withdrew a proposal to amend Bye-Law 33 for
rephrasing and re-submission at a later meeting.
Mr. John Buckley proposed and Mrs. M. Quinlan
seconded a motion that Bye-Law 34 be amended as
follows:
"The Secretary shall also cause voting papers to
be printed in Form D, for each province, containing
the names and addresses of all candidates who shall
be duly qualified and nominated in accordance with
Bye-Law 30, for election as the provincial delegate
for each province, arranged in alphabetical order,
with the names of their respective nominators, and
shall at least one week before the date of the poll or
election in each year send one of such voting papers
to each member of the Society practising in such
province elsewhere than in the city of Dublin as
regards the province of Leinster, who shall have
paid his subscription for the current year, together
with an envelope addressed to the Secretary, having
the names of the province printed on the outside.
Where only one candidate is validly nominated in
respect of any province, the scrutineers of the ballot
shall be empowered to return such candidate for
election without the necessity of printing or issuing
voting papers in respect thereof."
After discussion, Mr. M. V. O'Mahony proposed and
Mr. F. O'Donnell seconded that the proposal as