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N E W S

MAY / , UNE

' "

5

Half-Yearly General Meeting

The Half-Yearly General Meeting of

the Law Society was held in Blackhall

Place on 4 May 1995. The minutes of

the AGM held on 24 November 1994

were adopted.

Finance Bill 1995

A special report was made by

John

Fish,

Chairman of Taxation

Committee, on the proposed S.153 of

the Finance Bill 1995 (which has been

replaced by S. 171 since the Half-

Yearly Meeting). The proposed section

provided that any person who assists a

company in the preparation or delivery

of any information, declaration, return,

record, accounts or other document

which that person (including a

solicitor) knows will be or is likely to

be used for any purpose of tax, will be

bound to comply with the requirements

of this section. In particular that person

will be obliged to inform the Revenue

Commissioners where he believes that

a tax offence has been committed even

where that information has been

disclosed to the solicitor on a separate

occasion altogether.

John Fish

pointed out that while the

Law Society does not condone tax

evasion, this section would undermine

the traditional concept of solicitor/

client confidentiality. Mr. Fish reported

to the Half-Yearly Meeting that the

Law Society was vigorously opposing

the enactment of the section. Counsel's

Opinion had been received by the Law

Society that day. This was a strong

compelling argument that the section

was unconstitutional. In the light of this

the Society would be recommending

that Section 153, if enacted, should not

be complied with by members.

He also referred to the fact that a press

release had been issued on behalf of

the Society in opposition to the section.

A joint press release with the

Consultative Committee of

Accountancy Bodies - Ireland and the

Institute of Taxation had been issued

announcing the suspension of

participation in the Taxation

Administration Liaison Committee

(TALC) pending resolution of the

professions concern with Section 153

of the Finance Bill 1995. He stated that

the Law Society had made a

submission to the Minister on 28 April

and a letter had gone out to each

member of the profession asking for

their support in lobbying the Minister.

The discussion was opened to the floor.

Speakers from the floor spoke in

opposition to the section. The President

asked the meeting whether they were in

agreement with the policy being

adopted by the Law Society. Full

agreement was received from

the floor.

Amendment to Bye-laws

The following amendments to the Bye-

laws were put forward:-

(i) Facilitate the sending of statutory

notices to members by way of

document exchange.

(ii) Provide for the consideration and

approval of the Society's annual

accounts at the Half-Yearly

General Meeting rather than at the

Annual General Meeting, when the

period being reported on is eleven

months past.

The second amendment was opposed

by

Leo Mangan.

He said that the

accounts should be made available for

discussion at the Half-Yearly Meeting

but not adopted at that meeting. He

was of the view that they should be

adopted at the AGM.

Laurence Shields,

Chairman of Finance Committee said

that it was unfair that the accounts

should be discussed at two meetings.

Mr. Mangan

put forward that the

amendments dealing with the

Document Exchange be passed and the

amendments concerning the Approval

of the Accounts be left to the Review

Group to deal with. This was seconded

by

Terence Liston.

The amendments

put forward by

Leo Mangan

were

voted on by the meeting and it was

defeated. The amendment to the Bye-

laws as proposed was adopted.

Solicitors Retirement Fund

A report on the Solicitors Retirement

Fund was made by

Gerald Hickey.

He

reported that the fund had suffered a

loss in 1994 due to problems in the

U.S. market. However it had made a

capital profit of £7 million in 1993.

Michael D. Murphy

from the floor said

that the Fund should be marketed

better to the profession.

Solicitors Benevolent Association

The report on the Solicitors Benevolent

Association was made by the new

Chairman

Tom Menton.

He paid tribute

to the outgoing Chairman

Andy Smyth

and thanked him for his hard work and

commitment on behalf of the SBA.

Mr.

Menton

reported that there has been an

increasing number of demands on the

funds of the SBA in recent years

particularly from younger members. In

an effort to increase the funds of the

SBA he suggested that members could

increase their subscriptions; organise

fundraising events or include a gift in

their own will to the SBA.

Annual Accounts of the Society for

the year ended 31 December 1994

Adoption of the accounts was proposed

by

Laurence Shields

and seconded by

Ward McEllin. A

discussion of the

accounts took place. This was followed

by the election of auditors which was

proposed and seconded.

Review Group

A report was made by the Chairman of

the Review Group

Don Binchy.

He

referred to matters being considered by

the Review Group. There are as

follows: the Society's representative

role; services provided by the Society;

services provided by advisory

Committees of the Society; the

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