The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

M E D I

MARCH 1995

Revision of Circuit Court Venues

The proposed closure of 18 Circuit

Court venues featured strongly in the

media during January (particularly in

the provincial newspapers). The report

which recommended these closures

was drawn up by a Committee of five

circuit court judges and five public

officials under the chairmanship of the

President of the Circuit Court, Mr.

Justice Spain.

An article by Carol Coulter on the

proposed closures was featured in the

Irish Times

on 14 January 1994. The

article commenced on the front page

with the headline 'Report Proposes

the Closure of 18 Circuit Court

Venues' and continued inside the

newspaper. She stated: "This

proposal is unlikely to find favour

with either of the two organisations

representing the legal profession.

Although neither has yet prepared its

responses to the document, spokesmen

for both have expressed their

misgivings." Paddy Glynn was quoted

extensively in the article. He stated

that: "the public is more likely to be

inconvenienced than anyone else." He

pointed out that joining certain

counties together did not make sense.

"Just because Clare is near Galway

and Meath next to Westmeath does

not mean that this is an ideal

marriage" said Paddy Glynn. The

article also referred to the fact that

the condition of some circuit court

venues had been the subject of

concern and led to several civil legal

actions over the years brought by local

bar associations against the Minister

for Justice.

The article continued, "The Law

Society whose members are more

directly affected has not yet drawn up

its policy on the issue, because

according to Mr. Glynn, it was not

consulted at the outset, and is now

asking its members about the proposals.

They are likely to oppose at least some

°f the closures and criticise the

proposed reorganisation of the

circuits."

Many provincial papers carried

articles criticising the proposed

closure of the particular courthouse in

their area.

It was reported in various provincial

papers at the end of January that the

Minister for Justice, Nora Owen has

stated that the review of the Circuit

Courts was not finalised. The Minister

pointed out that the committee was still

in the process of formulating its

proposals. The Minister said "I have

not seen the draft proposals being

formulated by the committee. I am,

however, looking forward to receiving

the report. My Government is

committed to ensuring that the courts

system is organised in such a way as to

give the best possible service to the

public." The

Irish Independent

printed

an article on 1 February headed 'Circuit

Courts closure stirs up protest'.

The Law Society's response to the

Working Review Group was issued on

15 February and a press release was

issued 16 February 1995 to the

Cork

Examiner

, provincial papers and local

radio stations.

The

Cork Examiner

covered the Law

Society's response under the heading:

'Law Society Criticises Review Plan'.

The article stated: "The Law Society are

calling for the appointment of a

sufficient number of judges to deal with

the volume of work and suitable

facilities in the existing venues to

enable the judiciary and the legal

profession to carry out the work

efficiently." The Law Society's

response was also covered in a number

of provincial papers.

Lawyers have their day!

Front page headline on

Sunday

Independent

on 15 January stated 'It's

no handicap being a proven lawyer'.

The article reported the result of a

survey carried out by the

Independent.

The results revealed that lawyers are

held in higher regard than journalists.

The survey from a sample of 200

respondents evenly distributed between

city and country asked people to say

who they considered most trustworthy:

lawyer, politician or journalist. A

whopping 60.5 per cent said they would

place lawyers at the top of the list. Only

33.5 per cent chose journalists and a

mere 6% chose politicians!

Parchment Ceremony

The parchment ceremony on 20 January

at which 52 newly-qualified solicitors

received their parchments was covered

in the

Irish Independent

on Saturday 21

January. The headline stated 'Law Chief

raps 5,500 - solicitor roll'. Paddy

Glynn was reported as saying "there are

too many solicitors in this country . . .

too many for all to make a living." The

article also stated "strongly defending

the profession Mr. Glynn said the 1,200

complaints against solicitors dealt with

last year 'has to be related to 5m legal

transactions' The article also reported

that "Mr. Glynn told the

Irish

Independent

it was wrong that solicitors

who represent 80 per cent of the

country's lawyers, were still only

allowed sit as judges in the

district court."

The parchment ceremony was also

covered in the

Irish Press

21 January. The report covered the

content of the address made by Paddy

Glynn at the ceremony. It stated

"Mr. Glynn urged the newly qualified

solicitors to communicate with their

clients, to keep them informed of the

progress of a case and in particular to

explain any delay". "He also advised

them to keep abreast of legal

developments and to endeavour to

establish and maintain up-to-date

practice management systems."

'Family Law: a mystery to most'

A full page of the

Irish Times

was

devoted to the problems encountered

in the area of family law on

24 January. The main article by Carol