54 / 364
James W. O'Donovan, 448 ;
John Maher, 445 ;
William J. V. Comerford, 443 ;
Thomas V.
O'Connor, 427 ; Thomas H. Bacon, 407 ; George G.
Overend, 403 ; Brendan A. McGrath, 401 ; William
A. Tormey, 400; Desmond Moran, 384; Peter
D. M. Prentice, 374; James R. C. Green, 354;
Raymond A. French, 331 ; Gerald Y. Goldberg,
316.
The scrutineers returned the foregoing thirty-one
members as duly elected ordinary members of the
Council for the year 1964-65.
The following candidates also received the number
of votes placed after their names :
Edward J. C. Dillon, 308 ; Charles Hyland, 296;
Brendan T. Walsh, 254 ; Samuel V. Crawford, 253 ;
Robert W. R. Johnston, 250.
The audited accounts and balance sheets for the
year ended 30th April, 1964, circulated with the
agenda, were adopted. Messrs. Kevans & Sons were
re-appointed as the Society's auditors.
The President, moving the adoption of the report
of the Council for the year 1963-64, said :
Ladies and Gentlemen : Before my report for the
year I have first to record with deep regret the deaths
of the members of our Society which occurred
since our last ordinary meeting. James Fagan, died
25th July, 1964, late of 57/58 Parnell Square, Dublin.
Andrew J. O'Flynn, died i st July, 1964, late of 4 Cecil
Street, Limerick. Mr. Edward B. Williams, died
I4th July, 1964,
late of Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Mr. Patrick McDowell, County Registrar
for
Wicklow, died i7th August, 1964. Mr. John C.
Callan, died nth September, 1964, late of Kings-
court, Co. Cavan. Mr. David H. Charles, died
15th September, 1964, late of 4 Clare Street, Dublin.
Mr. Seamus O'Connor, died ist October, 1964, late
of 30 Bachelor's Walk, Dublin.
May I, on my own behalf, and on behalf of my
fellow council members, express to their relatives
and friends our sincere sympathy.
Finance
The Accounts and Balance Sheet of the Society have been
circulated to you and they set out very clearly our financial
position. Expenditure is still rising and our annual profit
continues to decrease.
The Finance Committee meets regularly each month and
investigates fully all items of expenditure and revenue and
does everything possible to ensure that revenue is maintained
and expenditure kept in check. Outgoings, however, continue
to rise and in spite of representations made by a number of
my predecessors our Society is still bound to make an annual
contribution of £530 to the Incorporated Society of Law
Reporting. This is a public service which should be financed
out of public funds and I look forward to the day when this
will be realised and accepted and when we will be relieved of
the responsibility of making this annual contribution.
Law Calendar and Directory
The second part of the
Laiv Calendar and Directory
namely,
" The Directory", has now been amended as a result of
suggestions made by several members of the profession. We
would welcome your views in due course as to whether the
Directory
is now sufficiently complete and meets with general
approval.
Bar Associations
I renew the appeal which I made to every solicitor, especially
newly qualified solicitors, when I spoke to you last May. Bar
associations are still and will always be necessary and vital if
unity in our profession is going to continue.
In the year which is now ending I have visited a number of
towns in Ireland where there were extremely flourishing bar
associations and on the introduction of the Succession Bill
almost all bar associations over the country provided inspired
and intelligent criticisms which were a great help to the Council
when they had to consider and suggest amendments to be
made to that Bill. I would like to thank all these associations
for the work they have done and for the interest they have
shown and in particular I would like to thank them for having
sent so many representatives to the special meeting of the
Council which was held recently in connection with the
Succession Bill.
During the month of October I spent five days at Folkestone
as a guest of the Law Society of England and Wales at their
conference and while there I learned that the local bar associa
tions in England are becoming more and more important
each year and their growth is encouraged and viewed with
pleasure by the councils there.
Similarly we will always
continue to encourage united bar associations and would like
to see one in every county in Ireland.
Legal Education and Training
In the month of July, 1961, your Council prepared a
memorandum on legal education and training and when later
on the Commission on Higher Education was established the
Council forwarded a copy of their memorandum to that
Commission for consideration.
In the month of May of this year, representatives of your
Council were invited to attend before the Commission on
Higher Education to amplify and discuss some of the matters
mentioned in the memorandum. Reference had been made to
certain defects in the then educational system on the grounds
that it was too rigid and could not be adapted to suit changing
circumstances ;
this was because of the fact that the system
was established by Statutory Enactment and could not be
changed except by legislation. The five year term ofapprentice
ship and some of the other Statutory requirements had been
handed down for hundreds of years and the Council took the
view that power should be given to the Society to prescribe
the whole system of legal education and training for the
profession exercisable by Statutory regulations subject to
the aoproval of the President of the High Court.
We had also stated that the system of apprenticeship was
unsatisfactory as the course was far too crowded to permit
an apprentice to acquire any real acquaintance with the practical
aspects of a solicitor's work and that it should be possible for
the apprentice to spend more time in the office with his master.
The memorandum had also stated that the Council was not
satisfied with the quality of instruction in some of the
university law schools and drew attention to the fact that
there was not one whole time lecturer in the law faculty.
The Council made five main recommendations and submitted
six other matters which they considered were specific require
ments of the solicitors' profession.
A deputation made up of Mr. James Greene, Mr. Peter