161 / 264
GAZETTE
OCTOBER 1978
EDUCATION
COMMITTEE
M. Curran
A. Bourke
J. F. Buckley
F. Daly
W. D. McEvoy
P. D. M. Prentice
Chairman
8.1
The Committee continued to deal, during the year, with the many and varied
problems of the huge number of apprentices that are at present in the system. Each
apprentice appears to consider himself or herself unique and the administration finds it
very difficult to apply general rules without continually referring matters back to the
Education Committee. Personal canvassing of members of the Committee by apprentices
and their masters does not lighten the burden.
8.2
The problems of numbers and the cost of the new course were matters with
which the Committee had to continue to struggle throughout the year. The Union of
Students in Ireland made an unprecedented attack on the Society and the Education
Committee, issuing a document which contained many allegations that were wrong but
which unfortunately, as is often the case, received wide publicity. The Education
Committee responded very strongly to these allegations, both in meetings with the U.S.I,
and at a Press Conference, where the position of the Society was very fully explained.
8.3
Our Director of Training, Mr. Laurence Sweeney, with the assistance of Mr.
Harry Sexton, produced a most interesting document entitled "Estimated supply of and
demand for Solicitors in 1986 and 1991". This 15-page document is unfortunately too
lengthy to print in the
Gazette
but anyone who is interested may obtain a copy on appli-
cation to the Society. This document projects on the assumption of 150 per year
qualifying from now on, and including a large number of the old system apprentices who
should also qualify, that the number of solicitors on the Roll would increase from 1,970 at
February 1978 to 3,295 in 1986.
8.4
The number of indentures registered in each of the last five years were as follows:
YEAR
NUMBER
1974
315
1975
401
1976
108
1977
134
1978
(200) estimate
8.5
The numbers of solicitors qualifying in each of the lastfive years were as follows:
YEAR
NUMBER
1974
118
1975
115
1976
116
1977
162
1978
(200) estimate
%
*
^
f \
Maurice R. Curran,
Chairman
8.6
It is apparent that the Society, is providing for a massive expansion in the
profession and that making optimistic assumptions as to the growth rate of the economy,
the effect of the introduction of a full system of free legal aid in civil matters and the
availability of more jobs outside the profession, either in the European environment, the
civil service or .industry, there will be considerable excess capacity in the profession by
1986. In other words, if the Society's projections are anywhere near correct, a number of
solicitors, probably those most newly qualified, will be unable to secure employment (this
is currently the situation in New Zealand).
8.7
The universities are not without blame. In 19 72 the total university output of law
graduates in Ireland was 105, whilst by 1977 this had jumped to 215, an increase of over
100%. A complicating factor is the great increase in the number of graduates of other
faculties who seek to become solicitors. It seems certain for the foreseeable future that the
demand for places in the Society's law school will exceed the availability of such places.
8.8
Accordingly, all prospective entrants to the Society's law school, upon obtaining
their degree, will have to sit in future years a competitive entrance examination to obtain a
place in the law school. However, it is the policy of the Education Committee that candi-
dates who obtain entrance by such examination to the law school should succeed in
becoming solicitors.
8.9
As the Society is outside the grant system operated by the Government through
the Higher Education Authority, it will be appreciated that the new law school will be in
relative terms expensive. The Fees Order has recently been signed by the President of the
Incorporated Law Society and countersigned by the President of the High Court. The
161