311 / 462
GAZETTE
i SEPTEMBER 1991
Correspondence
Editor
Law Society Gazette,
Law Society,
Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
15th July, 1991
RE: The introduction of tele-
phone answering machines in
the Land Registry
Dear Sir,
In view of the apparently
successful introduction and
operation of telephone answering
machines in other offices offering
a public service, I have decided to
introduce them on a pilot basis in
the Ground Rents Section and in
the Dealings Sections for Counties
Clare, Galway, Mayb, Roscommon,
and Sligo.
The Staff in these Dealing
Sections have a heavy work-load as
a result of the introduction of
computerisation of their folios. As
you will appreciate the necessity of
dealing with a large number of
unexpected telephone calls can be
the ruination of a planned daily
work schedule.
By arranging the times at which
we will deal with our incoming
telephone calls the work load of the
office will be more efficiently
managed and the service provided
over the telephone will be improved
upon as we will have the subject
matter of an enquiry to hand and
researched when we return the
call. The messages left on the
machines will be monitored and
dealt with towards the end of each
morning and evening.
It will still be possible where
circumstances warrant it for
anyone to ask at the switchboard
for direct access to the staff to
have a problem dealt w i th
immediately. Hopefully such calls
will be kept to a minimum.
As an improvement in the
efficiency of the Registry is to
all our benefit I would ask for
the co-operation of our clients
with the pilot scheme. Its operation
as it affects both our clients and
the Registry will be monitored and
reviewed at the end of a trial
period.
Yours faithfully,
Catherine Treacy,
Registrar,
Land Registry,
Chancery Street,
Dublin 7.
18 July 1991
The Editor
Gazette
Incorporated Law Society of
Ireland
Blackhall Place
Dublin 7.
Dear Editor,
In line with the new Government
policy of 40% minimum repre-
sentation of women on State
boards, the National Women's
Talent Bank is updating its register
of women who are available to
participate on these boards.
We are actively recruiting new
talent for our register.
Any woman who is interested in
putting her name forward for our
register should contact the National
Women's Talent Bank at, 64 Lower
Mount Street, Dublin 2.
We thank you for your
cooperation.
Yours sincerely,
Denise Conn
Chairwoman
National Women's Talent Bank
c/o Council for Status of Women
64 Lower Mount Street
Dublin 2
The Taxation Committee,
Incorporated Law Society of
Ireland,
Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
RE: CAT Amnesty and
Enforcement
Dear Sir,
With reference to the article in the
April Gazette, it is stated " i t is the
duty of every solicitor to bring this
Tax Amnesty to the attention of
his clients....".
The impression given is that
whether or not a solicitor is aware
that a client might have received a
gift, it is his duty to notify every one
of his clients of the position.
This is placing a very onerous
burden on the professional to, in
effect, circularise every single one
of his clients in order to protect
himself against a claim for
negligence.
A solicitor would only be on
notice of such matters as pass
through his hands, and information
which would be available from his
files.
It could happen that one solicitor
in a firm could be dealing with a
client who received a gift which
would have been under the
threshold for which no return was
made, and that same client could
be a client of another firm when he
received another gift which might
have put him above the threshold.
Neither firm of solicitors could be
aware of the other's activities in
relation to that client unless the
client disclosed same to them. The
question arises as to what would
be the duties of each of those
solicitors to that client.
A client may have been the
recipient of gifts of chattels which
would not be to the knowledge of
his solicitor, and yet it would appear
that there is an onus on the solicitor
to advise the client in such a case.
Surely the duty must be limited
to such clients where the solicitor
is aware, in his professional
capacity, of gifts having been made
to a client, and that the duty would
only rest with such cases.
Perhaps you would clarify the
position in the next issue of the
Gazette.
Yours faithfully,
Quentin Crivon,
Solicitor,
94 Lr. Baggot St.,
Dublin 2.
The article did not represent itself
to be a dissertation on negligence
but rather an appropriate time to
inform solicitors
of the new
situation presented by the Amnesty
and of the opportunities that it
affords, and that the question of
negligence is only something to be
answered by the Courts.
Taxation Committee
(Cont'd on p. 295)
293