The Gazette 1946-49

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GAZETTE SEPTEMBER 1988
In
this
Issue I
V i ewp o i nt
Taxa t i on As p e c ts of
Forestry I nves tment 197
Wh a t are t hey saying 1 99
Jo i nt Legal Education
Conference 2 05
Whe re Are They Now? 2 11
People & Places 2 12
Cover: Edward McParland, Irish
Architectural Archive with the Lord
Mayor of Dublin, Ben Briscoe, T.D.
Executive Editor:
Mary Gaynor
Committee:
Geraldine Clarke, Chairman
Seamus Brennan
John F. Buckley
Gary Byrne
Michael Carrigan
Eamonn G. Hall
James J. Hickey
Nathaniel Lacy
Frank Lanigan
Charles R. M. Meredith
Desmond Moran
Daire Murphy
John Schutte
Maxwell Sweeney
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The views expressed in this publication,
save where otherwise indicated, are the
views of the contributors and not
necessarily the views of the Council of
the Society.
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GAZETTViewpoint
Civil Legal A id
The Report of the Civil Legal A id
Board for 1986 makes more t han
unusually melancholy reading. As
in their earlier Reports t he Board
d r aws a t t en t i on to t he delay in
establishing t he s cheme on a stat-
utory basis — draft legislation is on
the way we are told — t o t he over-
wh e l m i ng emphasis on family law
cases r e s u l t i ng in t he v i r t ual
exclusion of all other areas of law
f r om the Board's operation and to
the problems created by t he Public
Service embargo.
The most disappointing aspect of
the Report is that the planned estab-
lishment of Law Centres in Dundalk,
Letterkenny, Portlaoise and Castle-
bar has been pos t poned f o l l ow i ng
a Government decision to shelve
the projects. Each of these sizeable
t owns is 5 0 miles or more f r om the
nearest Law Centre and t he pro-
vision of services on a part-time
INCORPORATE D
LAW SOCIETY
OF IRELAND
Vol. 82 No. 1September 1!
basis in these t owns merely results
in an inadequate service to their
inhabitants while diluting the service
available at other full-time centres.
It is even more wo r r y i ng to note
t hat t he Centres in Tralee, A t h l one
and Tallaght and t he second Cork
Centre wh i ch have been f i nanced
under the Funds of Suitors Acts are
not guaranteed to be f unded after
t he end of 1989, by wh i ch t i me
their source of f und i ng will have
dried up. While t he pessimism of
t he Report is clearly justified, it
should not hide the valuable wo rk
b e i ng d o ne u n d er m o s t
unsa t i s f ac t o ry cond i t i ons by t he
Board's dedicated staff. In the year
under review, 1,939 cases were
taken to Court and there were
9 , 5 64 incidents on wh i ch advice
was given, largely in t he d i f f i cu lt
and t i me c on s um i ng area of family
law. •
Buck i ng the System
Mu ch has been w r i t t en about t he
recent Hanrahan -v- Merck Sharpe
& Dohme case, m u c h of it
portraying t he Plaintiff as a David
f i gh t i ng not only t he Goliath of t he
Defendants but also ' t he System'.
What has received far less publicity
— perhaps because it clouds t he
image of Mr. Hanrahan as an
individual f i gh t i ng against over-
w h e l m i ng odds, or a possible
reluctance on t he part of t he media
t o portray lawyers as any t h i ng
other t han money-grabbing — is
t he f act t hat t he case could not
have been taken and f o u g ht to its
successful conc l us i on if solicitors
and counsel for the Plaintiff had not
been prepared to undertake t he
c a se f o r h i m on a l a r g e ly
speculative basis.
In t r u th ' t he system', t hat is t he
traditional willingness of lawyers to
undertake litigation on behalf of
individuals w h o do not have t he
resources t o pay t he cost t h at w i ll
be incurred on t he individual's
behalf, has been s h own t o wo r k in
this case in t he highest degree. The
Counsel involved must have passed
up many lucrative briefs during t he
4 7 days t hat t he case was at
hearing in the High Court while t he
c omm i t me nt of t i me and e f f o rt by
t he f i rm of solicitors concerned,
relatively mode st in size by current
Dublin standards, mu st have put
considerable strain on its day to day
operation.
It is be c au se so l i c i t o rs and
barristers have been prepared to
take on litigation for people of
mode st means, relying largely on
t h e h o pe of s u c c e ss w i t h
consequent payment of cos ts by
the losing Defendant, t hat t he great
majority of personal injury cases in
particular have been brought t o our
Courts. In a c oun t ry w h i ch clearly
cannot a f f o rd a comp r ehens i ve
C i v il Legal A i d S c h e me t h e
con t i nuance of this practice is
obviously essential.
Concern has been expressed by
t he Chairman of t he Bar Council
t hat t he proposed cu r t a i lment of
t he number of Counsel in personal
injury cases may make it very
Contd. on pogo 207.
195