The Gazette 1958-61

Lest there may be any doubt in the mind of any person regarding the introduction of these regula– tions let me make it quite clear here that the Solicitors Act 1954 was initiated by the solicitors' profession, and that Act gave power to the Council to .iiake the Solicitors' Accounts Regulations. Legislation of this kind is not an innovation ; it has for several years past been in force in many other countries. These regulations were made, not as a reflection on the profession itself but as a recognition by solicitors of their special responsibility as custodians of the very large amounts of clients' money which have been paid to them in the ordinary course of business. There are some further short remarks which I wish to make about these regulations, but I propose to leave them to a later period during this meeting. TRUSTEE INVESTMENTS. During the year the Council have considered proposed new legislation and have submitted obser– vations thereof to the Government, and in particular amongst other legislation, the Council dealt with the Trustee (Authorised Investments) Bill, 1957. The Council considered that this Bill was a most important enactment and they were in communi– cation with the Department on a number of occasions in the year 1957 and also more recently in 1958. The Council submitted a number of amendments dealing with various sections in the Bill, and particu– larly with regard to Section 3. The Council felt that Section 3 which deals with money under the control or subject to the order of the Courts was too re– strictive and the Council submitted that the Courts should have wider powers and that it was manifestly wrong to limit the jurisdiction of the Court in directing the investments of funds under its control. I am glad to say that the representations made by this Society were successful and were very fairly met by the Minister for Finance, and that in the Bill now passed by the Dail the Courts have wide powers of investment which extend beyond the ordinary trustee investments in the acquisition, use or management of any land or business or any share in any business. The amendment protects a family business and property which, had the Council suggestion not been agreed to, would have had to be sold or other– wise realised as the Bill then stood.

Report for 1957. Shortly, the suggestion was that professional men and self-employed persons should be exempted from income tax on amounts set aside by them out of current income for the provision of pensions on retirement provided that the amounts were so set aside in accordance with a scheme to be approved by the Revenue Commissioners. Since then the Council has sent a deputation to the Minister for Finance, and this was a joint deputation composed of representatives of our Society and representatives of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. The matter was fully discussed with the Minister. To-day is the day of the Welfare State, and we are living in times when the State, at enormous and crippling cost, had decided to spoonfeed its citizens from the cradle to the grave. There is scarcely a scheme which one can think of from free medical treatment in hospitals built and equipped at enormous cost, to grants for building a fence that are not available to every citizen of the State with one glaring exception, and that is the self-employed man. The members of the professions to-day and I do not speak only of the legal profession are the hardest hit of all. They are bedevilled like everybody else by the rising cost of living, but unlike the employed person they receive almost no assistance of any kind from the State. While the State not only expects, but insists, that he shall subscribe to in– surance schemes for the benefit of others. And since the end of the war perhaps the hardest hit of all has been the solicitors' profession. A solicitor has seen a steady rise in overhead expenses of every kind rates, rent, wages, taxes, office requisites and Court fees, and these have been so great as to make it almost impossible for any member of our pro– fession to put anything aside for retirement and old age. Indeed, many of the younger members of our profession are hard put to it to make enough to live and many of them have to depend on the generosity of their parents for many years. It must be remembered that the professional man depends for his livelihood only on himself. Unlike others, when he is ill and unable to work, he is unable to earn. If he has any savings, a short illness very often absorbs them completely and most profes– sional men, and by far the greatest number of them, must look forward to their later years with the greatest of anxiety. It is only common justice that a self-employed man should be permitted to make some provision for retirement from his earliest years. In England and Northern Ireland tax remissions are allowed on contributions paid by solicitors to schemes for retirement benefits. And these tax re– missions being permitted, schemes have been set up in those countries with the assistance of the insurance companies whereby a contributor's pension depends

RETIREMENT BENEFITS AND INCOME TAX.

During the past year the Council has been con– sidering the question of retirement benefits for the profession. You will have seen a memorandum on this subject which was submitted to the Minister for Finance. It was printed at page 36 of the Annual