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come to Dublin for these Meetings but it is important
that every member so far as possible should attend
so that he may if necessary put his views before the
meeting in person. It is only by having a strong and
active membership that the Society can hope to pros
per and I strongly hold the view that every member
should attend the Half Yearly General Meetings so
far as possible and not leave the attending to a few.
In conclusion I should like to thank my two Vice
Presidents, Mr. Halpin and Mr. Lanigan for their
help and assistance throughout the year and I would
like to place on record the debt which the Society
owes not only to them but to every member of the
Council. This has been a most difficult year. There
has been an abnormal number of Council Meetings
and a very large number of Committee Meetings. By
far the heavier part of the day to day work is carried
out at the Committee meetings and I must tell you
that the members of the Council have given the most
magnificent services to these Committees and to the
Society and I am most grateful to them.
I must also place on record my appreciation and
gratitude to Mr. Plunkett and his staff for the help
they have given me and the kindness they have
shown me during my term of office. I am satisfied
that were it not for all that I have stated it would
have been impossible for me to carry out my duties.
When the press representatives had left the meeting
the President made the following statement.
I want to talk to you now about the Compensation
Fund and while you are entitled to have the facts,
I have thought it better to give these to you in the
absence of the Press for obvious reasons at this time.
The present annual subscription by each member
is £5, and this gives an income together with invest
ment income, of approximately £7,300 per year. The
amount of the Contributions and Investment Income
from 6th January, 1955 to 28th October, 1958 was
£28,364-
Up to the 28th October, 1958, claims have been
made on the Fund amounting to £52,812.
Of these, claims amounting to £7,318 have been
withdrawn, refused or disallowed, £10,699 ^as been
admitted as proved and cheques have been issued for
payment, and claims amounting to £34,795 are still
under investigation.
Fifty two claims have been made in respect of 13
solicitors the largest being claims amounting in all to
£21,891 against one solicitor and the next largest
being a claim amounting to £7,812. The claims which
amount to £21,891 have come in since March, 1958.
There is no reason to believe that most of the
losses claimed will not be proved and it may therefore
be estimated that the total losses to be met down to
66
the a8th October last will be in the region of £45,000.
I need not emphasise these figures. They are self
evident and they make a sorry showing. It is clear
that the stability and the solvency of the Fund cannot
be maintained with income as it is at present, if we
are to accept as a yardstick the income and loss
position over the past four years.
The Council is aware that other losses are in exist- :
ence which have not yet been reported for one reason
or another. It is clear beyond all doubt that if all
losses are reported, the total proved losses will ex- j
ceed by a large margin the estimate of £45,000 to '
which I have referred.
I therefore feel that it is my duty to warn the pro
fession that in my view, and that of many other col
leagues who have given considerable thought to this
matter, the annual payment by each member to this
Fund will have to be increased in the near future.
There is no use in closing our eyes to this issue. The
profession as a whole is responsible for the mainte
nance of this Fund. It is our Fund, maintained by the
profession for the stability of our reputation and our
good name and maintained it must be. We pay £5 per
year and the Compensation Fund, for the reasons I
have now given you, may very well become insolvent
within a short time. I need hardly say that no increase
in the annual contribution, however small, will be
made here unless it becomes necessary but upon my
honour I cannot see how it is to be avoided.
I need hardly stress the gravity of this situation
which is made immeasurably worse by the Supreme
Court decision declaring our disciplinary powers un
constitutional. We in our profession have no longer
any disciplinary powers worth talking of. We can
under section 49 of the 1954 Act, for the reasons j
therein stated, refuse to issue practising certificates
but this is a small thing. We can under Section 17 of
the 5th Schedule to that Act obtain an order from the
High Court freezing a solicitor's bank account, but
this can be done only after dishonesty has occurred,
not before. And in both these cases, the solicitor
concerned can continue to practise.
The present state of affairs is shocking and the
Council are very much alive to the fact that it has no
powers whatsoever to prevent this dishonesty oc
curring or to have it punished when it has occurred.
And until we get these powers, the way is open for
misappropriation on any scale with increased demand
on the Fund, and it follows as surely as I stand here,
that public confidence, and not only public con
fidence but our own confidence in our profession,
will be so sapped that regard for the profession is
unlikely to recover in the lifetime of any of us here
to-day.
The motion for the adoption of the report was sec
onded by Mr. B. T. Walsh, Messrs. T. D. McLough-