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G. Overend, Dermot P. Shaw, Joseph TyrreU,
Ralph J. Walker, Reginald J. Nolan, John B.
Jermyn, John Bolton, Desmond Moran, Scan
O hUadhaigh, Peter Prentice, William White,
Patrick Noonan, John P. J. Smyth, John B. McCann,
Thomas D. McLoughlin, Denzil O'Donnell, Gerard
Doyle, John Gibbons, Patrick C. Moore, Oliver
G. Fry, Samuel V. Crawford, Matthew Purcell,
Robert Osborne, J. R. Downes, S. H. Lynch,
Edward Barrett, James J. Hickey, T. Finbarr
O'Reilly, Brendan T. Walsh, Donough O'Donovan,
Gerard Lyons, Kevin Burke.
The notice convening the meeting was by per–
mission of the meeting taken as read. The minutes of
the ordinary general meeting held on 25th November
1954, and of the special general meeting held on
the same day, were read, confirmed, and signed by
the Chairman.
The Chairman announced that he nominated
the following members of the Society to act as
scrutineers of the ballot for the election of the
'Council to be held on iyth November 1954
John R. McC. Blakeney, James R. Green, Thomas
Jackson, Brendan P. McCormack, Roderick J.
Tierney.
The President addressing the meeting said:
Since our last meeting, death has taken its toll
of our members and we have lost Mr. Louis O'Dea
(Galway), Mr. John Meldon (Dublin), Mr. Patrick
McCarthy formerly of Dublin, Mr. Thomas Williams
(Dungarvan), Mr. William Hodgins (Nenagh), Mr.
Francis
O'Connor
(Dublin),
Mr.
Herbert
McClenaghan (Dublin) and Mr. Colin Maidment
(Dublin).
I must refer particularly to Mr. Louis O'Dea
of Galway, who was a member of the Council from
1933 to the time of his death. He was President of
the Society in 1944 and was elected to the Senate
in the same year. Mr. O'Dea was a man who stood
for everything good in the profession.
He had
practised for just 50 years, and the high esteem in
which he was held not only in Galway but all over
the West of Ireland was clearly shown by the very
large and representative attendance at his funeral.
In his passing the Society and the Council have lost
a very able administrator.
I must also refer to the recent death of Mr. Herbert
McClenaghan, of Dublin, who died under such
tragic circumstances only a few days ago. Mr..
McClenaghan was a comparatively young Member
of the Society, but those of us who knew him had
come to hold him in very high regard, and it will
be remembered that at a Meeting of the Society
held in November last, he contributed very mater–
ially to matters arising at that meeting.
This is the first Meeting of the Society at which
we can refer to the Solicitors' Act. For many years
back my predecessors have referred, with a certain
amount of pessimism to the delay in having the
Solicitors' Bill passed into legislation, and I am very
pleased that at this meeting I can at last refer to
the Solicitors' Act, and not to the Solicitors' Bill.
As you are aware this Act was initiated by the Society
as far back as 1937, and I feel that it is no small
tribute to the profession that eventually it passed
through both the Dail and the Seanad as an agreed
measure and went through all its stages and was
signed by the President of Ireland within a month
after it was introduced into the Dail.
In referring
to the passing of the Bill through the Dail and Seanad
I would like to express our thanks and appreciation
to Senator Cox for the assistance he gave when the
Bill was before the Seanad. As you are aware the
Act places many burdens on us, but we welcome
the Act, as a good Act for the profession, and a
good Act for the public.
It gives us much
greater facilities in
the management and control
of our own affairs and particukrly in the education
of our apprentices.
A concession to the Society has been made in the
abolition of Stamp Duties on Practising Certificates
and partial remission of the Stamp Duty on Inden–
tures of Apprenticeship, but it has been agreed that
the Society will pay an annual sum of £500 to the
Incorporated Council of Law Reporting and relieve
the Government from responsibilities for the pub–
lication of students'
legal text books. The pub–
lication of legal
text books in this country has
been practically impossible, due to lack of finance,
and it will be necessary for the Society to consider
building up a fund for the purpose of publishing
text books in due course. About the year 1945
the Government voted ,a sum of £7,500 for the
purpose of publishing specified works, but this
sum does not appear to have been utilised and if
it can be obtained as the nucleus of a fund it should
be possible in due course for young barristers and
solicitors to consider offering their services in the
writing of text books, in the knowledge that the
necessary finance will be available for that purpose.
It will be remembered that at a General Meeting
held in October last, it was arranged that the Council
should endeavour to have some amendments made
to the Bill, provided that it did not unduly hold
up its passing.
Immediately after the Meeting a
deputation called on the Department of Justice
with a view to having these recommendations
implemented.
One of the recommendations from
the Meeting was that the quorum of the Disciplinary
Committee should be raised from 3
to 5, and this
amendment was agreed. A recommendation was
also made on the suggestion of Captain Cowan in