The Gazette 1964/67

The other meetings were very successful and we are all hoping

that this venture will not be an exception. The members of the

Midland and Roscommon Bar Association have gone to great

pains to help to organise the meeting as a whole and in parti

cular have very kindly invited us to a Cocktail party to be held

before the Dinner Dance to night.

This is a proud moment for me. It is the first time that I

have had the privilege and pleasure of addressing a meeting

representing the entire solicitors' profession in the country.

I have been entertained by many of you in a typically Irish

manner in your own particular parts of the country and am

very happy to be able to say that I have made many new friends.

You are aware that our profession plays a very vital part in the

life of the community. It is our function to protect individuals

against wrongs that may be inflicted on them by their neigh

bours or at times by a department of state, local authority or

other large and powerful organisation or corporation. I feel

and hope that I am right in thinking that there is a more

appreciative reaction in the minds of men nowadays to us.

We have often in the past been more likely to obtain publicity

for our misfeasances than for the good work we do for our

clients in our quiet way. In this connection, I would like to

appeal to the Press and indeed to the members of the bench,

especially on the criminal side, that when they happen to be

dealing with one of our less fortunate brethren that they would

impress on their readers and listeners that such a one is the

exception and not the rule. This is proved to a great extent

by the manner in which applications to the Society under the

Compensation Fund have decreased in last year or two.

will speak further about this later.

In another way, dare I say a minor way, the profession has

received a boost in the public eye as to the quality of its

members. A new Dail is sitting and many solicitors have been

elected to the house.

I think I can safely say that the front

benches on each side of the house contain more solicitors than

ever before. In point of fact, 70 % of our solicitors T.D's are

on the front bench. We are pleased at this and it is good to

know that we have champions to promote our cause whenever

legislation is introduced or before it is introduced which might

affect us adversely. We are hopeful that the numbers of

solicitors in the Senate will not decrease even though one of

them has moved to the Dail.

SOLICITORS'

BENEVOLENT

ASSOCIATION

Last January, I had the honour of addressing the Annual

General Meeting of the Solicitors' Benevolent Association.

I said then that many if not all of my predecessors had ex

pressed the view that the Solicitors' Benevolent Association

was worthy of the support of all the profession. I make no

excuse for repeating that.

It does still seem that my pre

decessors efforts have not been wholly fruitful. There are a

number of solicitors in the Country, I use Country in its fullest

sense, who are not yet members. I appeal to all solicitors to

join. The Association with its limited funds carries out a

charity the merit of which cannot be assessed in words.

know that even in the last month, the Association made a

payment out of their funds to help a family which ran the

danger of becoming destitute. They cannot repeat this should

the occasion arise without constant and regular contributions

to their funds. All solicitors should join and in conclusion

rnay I remind you of their motto "Bis dat qui cito dat".

LAND ACT

The Land Act, 1965 has become Law since our last General

Meeting. It is an Act which our members must study with the

greatest care. I do not want to go into the social aspect of its

provisions. This side of the bill has been dealt with in the

greatest possible detail by both houses of the Oireachtas. It

is now law and we have our duty to carry out its provisions

and advise our clients on it. Many of the sections need very

special

study and

the Council are preparing a

short

memorandum to be circulated to all members through the

medium of the Gazette.

This may not be sufficient as it can hardly be comprehensive

and all the implications cannot be dealt in a short memo

randum. For these reasons, I must advise a fully comprehensive

study of the Act, particularly by our members outside the city

or defined "towns".

LEGAL AID

The Minister for Justice made an Order bringing in Legal

Aid in Criminal Cases commencing on April ist. The Law

Society made strenuous efforts to have what we consider were

proper fees fixed for work done by the solicitors' profession

under the Act. We failed in that but despite this we felt we

could not advise the profession not to assist the scheme in so

far as they could as a social measure. Many solicitors have

joined the panel—whether they joined or not was a matter of

free-will for each individual. It is too early yet to know if the

Scheme is working or will work. I personally have heard of

very few cases at all in which legal aid was assigned. So far as

I know, District Justices are loth to embark on the troublesome

waves of an uncharted ocean and it looks as if the measure

may only be used in some larger crimes and none of these have

come to light as yet. We know of course that the Department

of Finance will be like the famous Skibbereen Eagle—keeping

its eye on the Czar—and though they have no direct control, we

feel that they will not be too happy if the overall costs bring a

heavy burden on the community. It is very unlikely that it will

do so unless

the

District Justices dispense legal aid with very

lavish hands. The figure of £20,000 has been mentioned by

the Minister as the sum allocated in the estimate for his

Department for free legal aid service. If the trend in the number

in crimes is upward as unfortunately it appears to be, this figure

may well be exceeded unless the old maxim "Crime does not

pay" is still true and I doubt if it is.

The Minister himself has said that he hoped that legal aid

would be available to every hard case, by which I presume he

meant deserving case but added, quite correctly I think that

in no circumstances should we have a situation where legal

aid was available to everybody irrespective of circumstances

or the person involved. As against this, I do not think that

District Justices or Judges should be too strict in dealing

with applications. If the Government want the scheme, they

must be prepared to finance it.

SUCCESSION BILL

The First Succession Bill was one of the items which caused

the Council great concern for a long time. No one outside the

Council could conceive the amount ofwork done in connection

with the Bill by my predecessor, Mr. Desmond Collins. As a

result of his efforts and those of his colleagues on the Sub

Committee, a statement was prepared and issued to the Press

shortly after I took office. It would appear that as a result of

this and all the other agitation by the Society and outside bodies

that the Minister made recommendations to the Government

•which were accepted and resulted in the radical alteration of the

original scheme. This alteration did not go the whole way and

certainly did not satisfy the objections to the general principal

of the Bill. I and many others still contend that freedom of

testamentary power is a natural right which should be left to

everybody.

If in exceptional circumstances, a relation who

should have been the object of a bequest in a Will and was not

so, was aggrieved, an Act could be passed giving such person

a right to appeal to the Courts.

We awaited with interest the text of the New Bill which

could replace the old one. The text of that revised Bill was

•

issued to the Dail on May 12th.