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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the Finance Bill 1995 (which has been
replaced by S. 171 since the Half-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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