The Gazette 1946-49

The Solicitors' Bill has received the attention of the Executive Council and the Department of Justice has been engaged in the work of drafting the final form prior to its introduction in the Dail. Rep– resentatives of the Council have attended on the Minister for Justice on two occasions and have given the views of the Society on this most important Bill which has been unavoidably held over so long. It is hoped that in the coming months progress will be made towards placing the Bill on the Statute Book. During the past year the activities of your Council in safeguarding and forwarding the interests of the profession have been varied and manifold. I think it will be apparent from the reference in the Report to the number of meetings of the Council and its Committees seventy in all or an average of more than one meeting each week, not excluding the Christmas and Long Vacations that the members of the Council have no idle office. Of necessity during the Emergency the chief burden of Committee work fell on the shoulders of the Dublin members of the Council, but I am sure that with the coming of better travelling facilities the Provincial members of the Council will be able to resume their accustomed part in the work of the Society. An important part of the work of the Society is to watch legislation in its passage through the Oireachtas with a view to ensuring as far as possible that the rights and liberties of the citizen and the relationship between solicitor and State are not prejudiced by legislative enactment. The Secretary receives a copy of each Bill as it is intro– duced and refers to a Standing Committee of the Council any matters which seem to call for action by the Society. You will see from the report that the Council found it necessary to submit amend– ments to a number of Bills during the year and I should like to thank Mr. John S. O'Connor, T.D., and Senator O'Dea for their Parliamentary services in this connection. At this point I should like to refer to a matter of serious importance to the profession, but of still greater importance in its effects upon the constitu– tional rights of the citizen. I refer to the growing tendency towards setting up quasi-judicial bodies invested with far-reaching powers and important functions affecting the lives of a great number of people constituted entirely of lay adjudicators without a lawyer either as chairman or as a member of the board. In some cases the Act setting up the tribunal or regulations thereunder expressly enact that no party coming before it may be represented by counsel or solicitor without the special permis– sion of the tribunal. The idea underlying this type of legislation has been translated here directly from England where it is regarded by impartial and com-

following had been returned unopposed as Pro– vincial Delegates : Ulster: John Gillespie; Munster : J. A. Blood-Smyth ; Leinster : Reginald J. Nolan; Connaught: C. E. Callan, and that the following had been elected as the thirty-one ordinary members of the Council, having received the number of votes placed after their respective names : Arthur Cox 490, Daniel O'Connell 449, Patrick F. O'Reilly 447, Henry St. J. Blake 444, J. Travers Wolfe 423, Thomas A. O'Reilly 417, William S. Haye 412, Scan (!) hUadhaigh 408, William J. Norman 402, G. A. Overend 398, Peter O'Connor 385, P. R. Boyd 384, James J. Lynch 372, John J. Bolger 371, Joseph P. Tyrrell 370, John B. Hamill 369, John P. Carrigan 366, John S. O'Connor 365, W. L. Duggan 364, Lughaidh E. 0 Deaghaidh 357, Roger Greene 355, Henry P. Mayne 354, Joseph Barrett 347, Dermot P. Shaw 326, Hugh O'Donnell 323, James R. Quirke 321, John J. Dunne 314, William S. Huggard 309, R. A. Macaulay 304, Niall S. Gaffney 302, John J. Smyth 299, with the following as the supplemental list in case of vacancies: Cecil G. Stapleton 285, John P. Gannon 247, David R. Pigot 245. The President, in moving the adoption of the Annual Report said : LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I am very pleased to have the opportunity of again addressing you and of meeting you here to-day. Your presence is evidence of the interest you take in the affairs of the Society and I know the members of the Council are gratified with the support you accord those meetings. Since our last half-yearly meeting in May the Council has continued to safeguard the interests of our profession and has been called on actively over the intervening months to consult and take action in many spheres. During this period death has taken away a number of members of the profession. These include Mr. Edward Mallins and Mr. Thomas J. Greene, former members of the Council, William J. Girvan, District Justice Meagher, William J. Keery, Patrick F. Molony, William Morrogh, Robert W. Hamilton, Joseph Fegan, Philip H. O'Reilly. We deeply regret their passing and to their relatives we tender our sympathy. During the past year in response to an appeal made on behalf of the Council some 36 new members have joined the Society. This is satisfactory but our membership is not yet what it should be. We should have as members of the Society every practising Solicitor and I am hopeful that in the near future we shall have attained this object. Members present at this meeting can help by seeking to encourage others to join,