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EDITORIAL
LEGAL AID
I
t is satisfactory to note that the Minister for Justice,
Mr. Cooney, proposes to establish a Committee to advise
him on the introduction of legal aid in civil cases. What
is even more important is that this Committee will be
fully representative of the Legal profession as a whole,
includin~ jud~es,
barristers, solicitors and a member of
the Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC). The Minister
rightly praised the tremendous work which up to now,
had been undertaken by FLAC, and expressed the hope
that the Committee would evolve a scheme of Legal
Aid, which would aid financially the free services here–
tofore provided by FLAC. The 80 law students of this
or~anisation,
supported by 40 barristers and 60 solici–
tors, would have been physically unable to carryon
without financial assistance. Let us hope, that, pending
the completion of the Report, this will be provided
rapidly as an interim measure.
LAND DEVELOPMENT
The Committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice
Kenny, issued sOllie radical proposals about land de–
velopment, in the Report which it presented in March
I
1973, but which has only just been published. Its main
controversial proposal is to control the price of building
land in the public interest. Local authorities would
be
given power to apply to the High Court to designate
areas, in which, in its opinion, the lands would be used
during the following ten years for the purposes (i) of
p'roviding sites for houses on factories, and (ii) for ex'
pansion and development.
The Judge sitting with two assessors would determme;
the price if no agreement could be reached. Com·'
pensation would be limited to existing use value, pluS
25
%.
Although this scheme is primarily aimed against
I
developers who have amassed fortunes, the amount
appears rather low. Two dissentients to the majority
report claim that there is no justification for this
radical departure, on the ground that, even construmg
the Constitution liberally, it would not be possible to
offer an owner selling land less than its proper market
value. They considered that such a compensation
scheme would be hard to operate equitably, and might
cau"e injustice. Whatever view is ultimately taken, any
legislation proposed is certain to arouse controversy.
"
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The President (Mr. T. V. O'Connor) took the chair
at 2.30 p.m. on Thursday, 29 November 1973.
The notice convening the meeting and the minutes
of the ordinary general meeting held in Killarney in
May 1973 were read, and they were subsequently
signed.
Presentation to Mr. Plunkett
The President then made a presentation to Mr. Eric
Plunkett upon his retirement as Secretary of the Society.
This consisted in a cheque from ali the members, as
well as a magnificent parchment, which it is hoped to
publish in the Gazette subsequently.
Mr. Plunkett, in thanking the members for their
munificent
~ift,
referred to the fact that, while it was
the duty of the Secretariat to co-operate, there were
occasions when it had to be unpopular. Having referred
to some personalities in the Society such as
Geor~e
Wakely and Arthur Cox, he was glad to leave the
Society in such a prosperous state after 30 years. Miss
Thelma King, President of the Dublin Solicitors' Bar
Association, wished Mr. Plunkett many years of
happiness in his retirement on behalf of the members
of her Association.
BALLOT FOR THE COUNCIL 1973/74-
REPORT OF THE SCRUTINEERS
A meeting of the scrutineers appointed at the
Ordinary General Meeting of the Society held on 12th
May 1973 together with the ex-officio scrutineers was
held on 23 October 1973 at 1 o'clock. Nominations for
ordinary membership of the Council were received from
31 candidates all of which were declared valid and the
scrutineers directed that their names be placed on the
ballot paper.
The following candidates were duly nominated as
2
provincial delegates in accordance with bye-law 29
(a)
of the Society and were returned unopposed.
Ulster-John C. O'Carroll
Munster-Dermot G. O'Donovan
Leinster-Christopher Hogan
Connaught-Patrick
J.
McEllin
.
A meeting of the scrutineers was held on Thursda1
22nd November, 1973 at 11 o'clock. The pool was con–
ducted from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. and the scrutmy
was subsequently held. The result of the ballot was
as
follows:
581 envelopes containing ballot papers were receIved
from members.
The valid poll was 569.
The following candidates received the number of
votes placed after their name and were elected:
John Carrigan 420, Mrs. Moya Quinlan 416, Patnd
Noonan 415, John Maher 395, Anthony Collins 392,
Patrick C. Moore 389, William A. Osborne 388, ThomaJ
V. O'Connor 386, Brendan A. McGrath 385, Joseph L
Dundon 382, Robert McD. Taylor 375, Bruce St.
J.
Blake 375, Peter E. O'Connell 369, James W. O'DonO'
van 367, Francis
J.
Lanigan 366, Ralph J. Walker 364,.
Walter Beatty 358, Michael P. Houlihan 351, Gerald
Hickey 351, William
B.
Allen 349, Peter D. M. Prentice
347, Laurence Cullen 347, James R. C. Green 345,
John B. Jermyn 338, George A. Nolan 335, Gerard
M.
Doyle 333, David R. Pigot 323, Patrick McEntee 318,
Patrick F. O'Donnell 303, Ernest J. Margestson 298.'
The foregoing candidates were returned as ordinary
members of the Council for the year 1973/1974.
Th~
President declared the result of the ballot in accordance
with the Scrutineer's Report. On the motion of Mtj
Mr. John Maher seconded by Mr. P. C. Moorel
the audited accounts and balance sheet for the yeal
ended 30 April 1973 circulated with the Agenda
we~
adopted.