The Gazette 1961 - 64

intend to have the lectures taperecorded and made available for hire by any Bar Association wishing to obtain same. LEGAL AID The Criminal Justice Legal Aid Act, 1962, is now on the Statute Roll but as yet no regulations have been made bringing it into force or setting out the procedure to be followed and the fees to be paid. Your Council have given considerable attention to this matter and have submitted a detailed memorandum thereon to the Minister for Justice. I have myself seen the Minister on this novel and important matter and have assured him that our profession look upon legal aid in criminal matters as a substantial advance in the social legislation of the State and are anxious to make it work. We have stressed the cardinal principle that subject to con siderations as to distance a person accused of a crime must be entitled to engage the lawyer of his own choice to defend him and further that the fees to be paid to solicitors under the scheme must be commensurate to the work done and the responsibility involved. I understand that a scheme for legal aid in civil matters is also envisaged but I believe that it will not be introduced until sufficient time will have elapsed to see how the matter works on the criminal side of the Courts. SOLICITORS' BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION Last January I had the privilege of seconding the adoption of the Annual Report of the Solicitors' Benevolent Association as it entered its centenary year. I then appealed to every solicitor who was not a subscriber to the Association to join and I make no apology in repeating this appeal to contribute to what is our own particularly private and personal charity. It may not be known generally that the Solicitors' Benevolent Association covers not only that part of Ireland in which you and I practise but also covers and caters for the entire country both North and South and gives relief when required without limit as to border or any other like consideration. The annual subscription of £i has remained unchanged over the last one hundred years although the needs of the Association have expanded to a tremendous degree since its foundation. To mark its centenary the directors of the Solicitors' Benevolent Association founded a new annuity to be called "The Solicitors' Benevolent Association Centenary Annuity" and have appealed to their members for support to this foundation. I am glad to be able to tell you that the response of the profession has been generous but I again add my voice to the appeal and urge every solicitor in Ireland, North and South, to become an active member. BAR ASSOCIATIONS Bar Associations as always form the foundation upon which the organization of our profession exists and today there is even more necessity for professional men to form themselves into associations to promote the well-being of their members and protect their interests. Every solicitor practising in the State should be a member of his local Bar association and I am asking you as members of the Incorporated Law Society to try and achieve this result each in your own locality. At the same time you might impress on each fellow practitioner the desirability of becoming a member of the Incorporated Law Society by pointing out what has been done by the Society in the past and by giving an assurance that the Council of your Society are ever vigilant in protecting the interests of the profession and in dealing with matters affecting their well-being in this rapidly changing world. I have attended a number of social functions sponsored by

the local Bar Associations and have been impressed by the feeling of goodwill that exists between the members and the loyalty shown to the association. This loyalty and goodwill can do nothing but good in furthering the interest not only of the local members but of the profession as a whole. SOLICITORS' APPRENTICES DEBATING SOCIETY The education of solicitors' apprentices who will form the lawyers of the future is one of the most important tasks entrusted to your Council and one of which they are very conscious. Although not strictly within the confines of such education with its system of lectures and examinations the Solicitors' Apprentices' Debating Society plays an important part. I ask any of you who have apprentices to our profession to encour age them to join the Solicitors' Apprentices' Debating Society which will give them a unique opportunity to practise the art of public speaking and improve their advocacy when they are admitted to the roll of solicitors. CONCLUSION At this summer meeting I have dealt but very briefly with matters of common interest to our profession, may I close by expressing the hope and earnest wish that during the remainder of my year in office I may maintain the high standard set by my predecessors. In expressing this wish I am fortified by the assistance given and always available to me by every member of the Council and by my Vice-Presidents, Mr. Desmond Collins and Mr. Patrick O'Donnell. To each and every member of the Council I owe a deep debt of gratitude. Mr. Plunkett is as always a tower of strength and I am more than grateful to him for his guidance and assistance in the past and which I know will always be forthcoming for the remainder of my term. In accordance with byelaw 28 the following were appointed scrutineers for the ballot of the election of Council for the year 1963/64 :— John R. McC. Blakeney, Thomas Jackson, Brendan P. McCormack, Alexander J. McDonald, Roderick J. Tierney The following motion was proposed by Mr. Desmond J. Collins and was seconded by Mr. Niall S. Gaffney:— That byelaw 3 of the Society be and is hereby amended by the substitution of "6th January" for "ist day of May" in lines 5 and 9 and by the substitution of "ist July" for "Michaelmas Sittings" in lines 7 and 8 and that any necessary consequential amendments in the byelaws be made to give effect thereto. The motion, the effect of which is that members' annual subscriptions to the Society will be payable in January of each year from January 1964, instead of in May, as heretofore, was passed unanimously. Messrs. Edmund Carroll and T. D. McLoughlin addressed the meeting under general business and the meeting W3S then declared closed by the President.