The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1995

A Visit to the Irish Lawyers in

Luxembourg and Brussels

The President, Patrick A. Glynn and

the Director General, Ken Murphy,

recently visited the Irish lawyers in

Luxembourg and Brussels. Here is the

Director General's 'diary' of that visit.

Monday, 23 October

The President and I depart Dublin

Airport by the 10.45 a.m. Virgin/Cityjet

flight to Brussels on the first leg of our

'State visit' to the European Court of

Justice in Luxembourg. We will be

guests of the Irish Judges with all our

expenses paid by the Court.

It is thefirst time that this official

invitation has been extended to

representatives of the Law Society.

Apparently the Bar have availed of it

previously, perhaps more than once. This

year, however, things are different. Can

the change possibly have been influenced

by the fact that the Irish member of the

Court of Justice and the President of the

Law Society both hail from Limerick?

We meet MEPs

Mark Killilea

and

Mary

Banotti

on theflight. They are already

well familiar with the brand new terminal

building which has transformed Brussels

Airport from one of the shabbiest to one

of the smartest airports in Europe.

At 4.00 p.m. local time our connecting

flight arrives in an unexpectedly warm

and sunny Luxembourg. Our hotel is

directly across the road from the ghastly

building that houses the Court of Justice.

The President remembers a restaurant

which he thinks is named 'le chateau' to

which he was brought by the younger

members of the Luxembourg Bar on a

previous visit. The taxi driver tells us no

restaurant of that name exists. By

coincidence we pass right by it as we

explore Luxembourg's 'old town'. It

tums out to be named 'Urn Plateau' and

can be highly recommended.

Tuesday, 24 October

Anthony Collins,

BL, is the senior

referendaire

to Judge

John Murray.

has taken great trouble to provide us with ;

a comprehensive programme of meetings

and briefings for the next day and a half,

We meet him at the front door of the

main court building, known as the

Erasmus Building, at 9.00 a.m. precisely. |

By 9.30 a.m. we have been briefed on the

morning's case by the assistant to

Advocate General Jacobs and are seated

in the Court of Justice. The case turns out

to be one of major importance involving

allegedly illegal state aid granted by

France to its Post Office which is

distorting the international express

courier service.

The arguments are succinct, clear and,

even in translation, well presented. Major

questions of legal principle are asked and

cleverly argued. Listening is an

interesting experience which contrasts

with previous visits we have made to the

Court when it was difficult to stay awake.

There is a break in the proceedings at

11.00 o'clock and all the advocates go

outside for coffee. A 9.30 a.m. start with

a mid-morning coffee break. How

different from the home life of our own

dear courts.

Our programme next brings us to the

office of

Nial Fennelly

who was

appointed Advocate General of the

European Court of Justice in January of i

this year. Advocates General play a key

role in developing the jurisprudence of

the Court. They have the status of judges

and Nial is the first Irish lawyer ever to

hold this post. He welcomes us most

warmly in his office with its breathtaking

view over several square kilometres of

vividly yellow and orange coloured

autumnal forest. We have coffee with

him and his

cabinet

of young Irish

lawyers who tell us how things are done

'out here'.

Several more intensive briefings on the

European Courts system follow before

we escape to lunch in the judges' dining

room. After lunch our visit to the Judges'

chambers is completed when we are

again very warmly received, first by

John

Murray,

Judge of the European Court of

Justice and then by

Donal Barrington,

Judge of the European Court of First

Instance, and their staff of European law

specialist Irish barristers, solicitors and

academics. Each is generous with their

very scarce time and provide us with real

insights into their lives and work in

Luxembourg, while we reciprocate with

nuggets of news from home.

Dinner this evening is a most enjoyable

affair in yet another excellent

Luxembourg restaurant where we are

hosted by the three Irish judges and

their wives.

•

Wednesday, 25 October

Luxembourg

There is no such thing as a free dinner

and, accordingly, the relentless schedule I

of education meetings resumes. We are

swept at 30 minute intervals from one

court official to another, each patiently

explaining a separate aspect of the

inevitably complex courts system which

services, through a dozen working

languages, the European Union law

dispute resolution process for 15 member

States and 340 million citizens.

Today the judges are all involved in a

case in which the German Government is

challenging the legal basis for the

European Union's GATT agreement in

relation to bananas. This banana agree-

ment, surprisingly to us, is a matter of

intense political controversy in Germany

where it has even been suggested that, if

it does not like the Court's judgment,

Germany will unprecedently refuse to

comply with it. We hear that a group of

German theologians have condemned the

European Union's banana regime as

"immoral"!

;

The unusual legal nature of the case

requires all of the advocates general as

well as all of the judges to sit and hear it.

This is thefirst time that this fullest of

;

court divisions has sat since the

accession of Austria, Sweden and

Finland.

Continued on page 315

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