The Gazette 1958-61

atmosphere, and I believe that all such meetings enhance the morale of the profession. The Council will consider the possibility of holding a similar week-end in connection with the Summer general meeting at some place in the country away from Dublin as at least a biennial event. Since then my wife and I and the Secretary, Mr. Eric Plunkett, have received the most generous hospitality as guests of the Incorporated Law Society of Northern Ireland in Belfast and as guests of the Law Society of Scotland at Gleneagles. Mrs. Plunkett was also a guest at Gleneagles, and I would like to tender to the Presidents and Law Societies of Northern Ireland and Scotland our grateful thanks for all the kindness which we received from them. I know that there is considerable concern amongst our members at the delay in the introduction of the Solicitors (Amendment) Bill. I can only say that this matter has received close and continuous attention from the Council, and we have had a number of conferences with the Department of Justice to try to agree on the provisions to be inserted in this Bill. It is a matter of great complexity to secure adequate powers in order to regulate the profession while avoiding any infringement of the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court. The urgency of obtaining the necessary powers must be obvious to all our members when they realise that the claims already received against the Compensation Fund are more than double the contributions to the Fund paid by solicitors since the 6th January 1955. It is important that it should be generally known that the Council only accepted the obligation to establish a Compensation Fund on the definite understanding that the Society would be given adequate powers to regulate and control its own members so as to protect the Fund against claims. These powers have now been taken away by the judgment of the Supreme Court. Unless suitable powers can be obtained under the new Solicitors Amendment Bill or the obligations of the Compensation Fund are relaxed the burden of increased contributions to the Compensation Fund are likely to become more than the members of the profession can bear. I would like to acknowledge the consideration which we have received from the Minister for Justice, and the interest taken in the matter by Mr. Coyne, Secretary of the Department of Justice, and the help and wise advice which he has given us. I would also like to pay tribute to the great help which the Vice-Presidents and I have received in these negotiations with the Department from Mr. Arthur Cox and Mr. George Overend in particular, and of course from our most competent Secretary, Eric Plunkett. When the Amendment Bill is finally introduced in the Dail it is of great

importance that all our members should do their utmost to influence their T.D.'s and Senators to support it, and to get it passed into law without any unnecessary delays or amendments which might defeat its purpose. In my address at Killarney I commented strongly on the deplorable position which had arisen in connection with the costs of Land Commission proceedings which had received only a nominal increase in the last 3 5 years in spite of the complete change in the value of money since the 1923 Land Act was passed. I am glad to be able to inform you that since then, and since the Report of the Council was printed, a compromise of our claim has been accepted and the item charges in the Land Com mission Scale will shortly be increased by fifty per cent, on the present costs payable. For this satis factory result we are almost entirely indebted to the great help and understanding of the position which we received primarily from the Judicial Com missioner Mr. Justice Teevan, and subsequently from the new Minister for Lands, Mr. Moran, and I would like respectfully to thank both of them. It is a great personal pleasure to me that this increase in the Land Commission Costs has been secured in my year of office as Mr. Dermot Shaw and I have been closely concerned with these negotiations for the past three years. The standard of living of the solicitor's profession, as in most other professions, has seriously declined in the last 20 years owing to a failure to obtain an adequate increase in costs to even remotely approach the change in the cost of living, the depreciation of the currency and the enormous increase in overhead expenses. Both the Council and the Policy Com mittee have this situation continually in their minds and are always striving to improve the financial position of the members of the profession, but much of their efforts are frustrated by that deplorable and most invidious practice of under-cutting indulged in by a few solicitors with a view to unfairly attracting business. Thousands of pounds are lost to the profession every year in this way, and those solicitors who are guilty of this practice should realise that not only is touting for business in this manner an offence with which they can be charged under the professional practice regulations, but that they are undermining the very foundations of the financial stability of all their professional brethren. If one solicitor in a locality commences to under-cut, the other solicitors in that locality are driven inevitably to follow suit in order to protect their own business. The result is a feeling of complete insecurity amongst all the solicitors in that area, and it is bound to react on the original solicitor himself who has set the vicious circle in motion by resorting to this under-cutting.