The Gazette 1977

GAZETTE

APRIL 1977

highly specialised and has increased out of all propor- tions. Applying the experience to this country, one is forced to ask the question whether the present organ- isation within the professions and within the Courts is adequate to handle, the massive increase in case work which is proverbially around the corner. The question must also be posed as to whether the non-specialist lawyer in the country town will continue to be able to provide an adequate service in this area. Being conscious of the degree of specialisation which a developed system of criminal legal aid will bring with it, I am personally forced to the conclusion that not- withstanding the problems, the criminal scheme should continue to be administered as a separate entity at least until the Scheme of Civil Legal Aid is functioning adequately. Up to now the legal profession has accepted its social responsibility to prqvide Legal Aid on a voluntary basis, but unfortunately this is no longer sufficient to cope with the extent of the public's requirement for legal services and the liability of large sections of the public to pay for these services. It is of vital importance to be aware of the fact that experience from other countries has demonstrated that such obligations placed on the legal profession have been difficult to translate into effective legal services. The profession in this country as in many other countries of similar size and economic wealth is too small and its economic prosperity is too limited to make it a viable source of funds or services for the population at large. This must be accepted both by the population and the government. In this regard of considerable significance are recent decisions of the Austrian Constitutional Court and the European Commission of Human Rights striking down Legal Aid Schemes based upon compulsory, gratuitous service by lawyers, in effect on the ground that the burden thus placed on individual lawyers was inequitable and therefore inappropriate. The Auditor has clearly set out the way in which legal aid is being provided at present and I would like to take this opportunity of publicly paying tribute to the work of the Free Legal Advice (F.L.A.C.) Centres, staffed by students and gratuitously assisted by members of the legal profession whose work is recognised by the government in the form of a small grant. I hope that in its report the Pringle Committee will accept that a comprehensive system of Legal Aid cannot be formulated on the basis of being a lost leader for the legal profession, who must be adequately remunerated for the work they will undertake. Before closing I would like to consider the likely effect of the introduction of a comprehensive scheme of Legal Aid on the legal profession itself. The nature of the services being provided by the legal profession and the range of its activities are ever changing and are undoubtedly on the increase. I would urge upon the profession an acceptance of the need for change and also the fact that this does not necessarily involve a sacrifice of our principles, our standards, or ethics, or traditions or our code of professional conduct. I feel that we should be ever mindful of Edmund Burke's dictum "that the practice of law while it broadens the intellect narrows the mind". There is an urgent necessity for a comprehensive scheme of Civil Legal Aid in this country and I fully support this call for the establishment of such a scheme. I have every confidence and belief that the legal profession will fully play its part in the implementation and operation of such a scheme.

The Auditor has rightly referred to the extent of the people's ignorance of the Law and the extent of their rights under the Law. We must accordingly consider the extent of the citizen's need for legal advice and then the extent of the responsibility of the State to provide such advice and the range and area over which such advice should extend. There must of necessity be constraints upon the extent to which this advice can be provided, but I am concerned in particular with the. extent of the responsibility of the Legal Profession to provide legal services. I am in particular concerned that there should be an awareness on the part both of the State and the public as to where a Citizens' Advice Service should end and where a Legal Aid scheme should begin. Having regard to the rapid development of statutory tribunals in this country, the general lack of knowledge on the part of the public of their rights before such tribunals, coupled with recent Court decisions, the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland is emphatic that from the inception of a scheme of Civil Legal Aid which I earnestly hope will soon be provided, it should embrace proceedings before Statutory Appeal Boards, Social Welfare Appeals and all such Tribunals where the enforcement of the rights of the citizens is concerned. I am aware that the Committee on Civil Legal Aid has been meeting continually for the past two 'and half years to consider and make recommendations on a difficult problem. While commending the members of the Committee for their work in a difficult task, I would hope that a report will be presented at an early date and that the recommendations will be implemented without delay, notwithstanding the financial constraints of the present time. The title of the Auditors paper, gives me the oppor- tunity to turn for a moment to look at the only existing legal aid service — that for Criminal Legal Aid. Introduced on an experimental basis in 1965, with the co- operation of the professions, to enable the State to meet its international obligations, in recent years, the Scheme has encountered difficulties and lost much of that good- will. On the financial side, the failure of the State to match remuneration with continuing inflation, has not encour- aged the solicitors' profession to embrace the scheme in a wholehearted way, much as I, the President of the Society, would wish them to do so. Indeed, the present unsatisfactory situation, as evidenced by the lack of appreciation shown by the National Prices Commission will lead many of the more experienced solicitors to turn their back upon the Scheme. This at a time when, following from the Healy v. Foran judgment in the Supreme Court in July 1976, on entitlement to legal aid in criminal matters, more and more defendants are being awarded aid in the Courts. The whole situation is fraught with difficulty to which no ready solution is obvious. For its part, arising out of previous difficulties, the Society through my predecessors in office, urged a compre- hensive review of the Scheme. The Minister accepted the recommendation, the Tormey Committee resulted and the report is eagerly awaited. More so indeed than that of the Pringle Committee, in that it is dealing with an ongoing scheme in imminent danger of breaking down. Last October, it was my privilege to attend an inter- national symposium on Legal Aid in London. On the criminal side, one of the speakers outlined the U.S. experi- ence since the Gideon v. Wainwright judgment in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963 (the parallel of our Healy v. Foran). It would appear that criminal work has become 66