The Gazette 1995

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Half-Yearly General Meeting

The Half-Yearly General Meeting of the Law Society was held in Blackhall Place on 4 May 1995. The minutes of the AGM held on 24 November 1994 were adopted.

participation in the Taxation Administration Liaison Committee (TALC) pending resolution of the professions concern with Section 153 of the Finance Bill 1995. He stated that the Law Society had made a submission to the Minister on 28 April and a letter had gone out to each member of the profession asking for their support in lobbying the Minister. The discussion was opened to the floor. Speakers from the floor spoke in opposition to the section. The President asked the meeting whether they were in agreement with the policy being adopted by the Law Society. Full agreement was received from the floor. (i) Facilitate the sending of statutory notices to members by way of document exchange. (ii) Provide for the consideration and approval of the Society's annual accounts at the Half-Yearly General Meeting rather than at the Annual General Meeting, when the period being reported on is eleven months past. The second amendment was opposed by Leo Mangan. He said that the accounts should be made available for discussion at the Half-Yearly Meeting but not adopted at that meeting. He was of the view that they should be adopted at the AGM. Laurence Shields, Chairman of Finance Committee said that it was unfair that the accounts should be discussed at two meetings. Mr. Mangan put forward that the amendments dealing with the Document Exchange be passed and the amendments concerning the Approval of the Accounts be left to the Review Group to deal with. This was seconded by Terence Liston. The amendments put forward by Leo Mangan were Amendment to Bye-laws The following amendments to the Bye- laws were put forward:-

voted on by the meeting and it was defeated. The amendment to the Bye- laws as proposed was adopted.

Solicitors Retirement Fund

Finance Bill 1995

A report on the Solicitors Retirement Fund was made by Gerald Hickey. He reported that the fund had suffered a loss in 1994 due to problems in the U.S. market. However it had made a capital profit of £7 million in 1993. Michael D. Murphy from the floor said that the Fund should be marketed better to the profession. The report on the Solicitors Benevolent Association was made by the new Chairman Tom Menton. He paid tribute to the outgoing Chairman Andy Smyth and thanked him for his hard work and commitment on behalf of the SBA. Mr. Menton reported that there has been an increasing number of demands on the funds of the SBA in recent years particularly from younger members. In an effort to increase the funds of the SBA he suggested that members could increase their subscriptions; organise fundraising events or include a gift in their own will to the SBA. Solicitors Benevolent Association

A special report was made by John Fish, Chairman of Taxation Committee, on the proposed S.153 of the Finance Bill 1995 (which has been replaced by S. 171 since the Half- Yearly Meeting). The proposed section provided that any person who assists a company in the preparation or delivery of any information, declaration, return, record, accounts or other document which that person (including a solicitor) knows will be or is likely to be used for any purpose of tax, will be bound to comply with the requirements of this section. In particular that person will be obliged to inform the Revenue Commissioners where he believes that a tax offence has been committed even where that information has been disclosed to the solicitor on a separate occasion altogether. John Fish pointed out that while the Law Society does not condone tax evasion, this section would undermine the traditional concept of solicitor/ client confidentiality. Mr. Fish reported to the Half-Yearly Meeting that the Law Society was vigorously opposing the enactment of the section. Counsel's Opinion had been received by the Law Society that day. This was a strong compelling argument that the section was unconstitutional. In the light of this the Society would be recommending that Section 153, if enacted, should not be complied with by members. He also referred to the fact that a press release had been issued on behalf of the Society in opposition to the section.

Annual Accounts of the Society for the year ended 31 December 1994

Adoption of the accounts was proposed by Laurence Shields and seconded by Ward McEllin. A discussion of the accounts took place. This was followed by the election of auditors which was proposed and seconded.

Review Group

A report was made by the Chairman of the Review Group Don Binchy. He referred to matters being considered by the Review Group. There are as follows: the Society's representative role; services provided by the Society;

A joint press release with the Consultative Committee of

Accountancy Bodies - Ireland and the Institute of Taxation had been issued announcing the suspension of

services provided by advisory Committees of the Society; the

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