The Gazette 1967/71

up, since current profit margins are already too low or non-existent."

sional staff have relatively poor prospects of ultimate promotion, and on the whole are given little opportunity to develop whatever administrative talents they possess. Professional civil servants who have direct access to the public can be relied upon absolutely to provide infor mation free from selectivity or bias. (5) Professional training should produce people who will not allow considerations of per sonal advantage, or fear of the conse quences, to affect them from acting in accordance with their professional con science. Even as an employee, the profes sional man can readily retain his independence of judgment, which should make him of value to the employer ; it is always vital that public confidence in his professional integrity should be maintained. (6) With regard to professional remuneration, the fact that the acquisition of a profession involves a lengthy period of education and training and the need to forego income for several years, deserves to be recompensed by adequate remuneration. It is essential for most professional men to have an office and some kind of staff, for the professions are service businesses ; in order to cover overheads and profits, it is necessary to make charges 2^ times the remuneration of these employees. As regards professional rules which require a minimum scale of charges to be applied, it is notable that many professions do not have any such system, and seem to manage quite well without it. (7) If there is a code of professional ethics, this may conflict with the law, which severely restricts the doctrine of professional privi lege. As a university teacher, Dr. Fitzgerald felt that he had a duty to his students to join in the seminar which replaced lectures last year ; others felt they had a primary duty to the University. The freedom of inquiry and freedom of speech of profes sional people is a vital guarantee of all democratic freedoms. Any infringement of these professional freedoms can only weaken society. The MaCarthyist attitude of the state authorities towards Father

THE PROFESSIONS — AN APPRAISAL Dr. Garrett Fitzgerald, T.D., delivered a lecture on " The Professions " to the Medico-Legal Society on 29th January 1970. The lecturer emphasised the following points :— (1) In the past forty years, the number of people employed in professions have risen by 60% in the case of men and 50% for women. Accountants and scientists have increased sevenfold in that time, engineers and architects have quadrupled, and veteri nary surgeons have trebled ; the clergy, nursing and medicine had increased by half—and lawyers by one third. (2) There is a trend away from self-employ ment status ; the employee proportion of accountants is 82%, in nursing it is 98%, in medicine it is 58%, and in engineering 92%. (3) The role of the university in associating themselves with the professions is recog nised, particularly in law, medicine, archi tecture and engineering. It is imperative that the professional bodies should recog nise the adequacy of the university courses. The professional faculties are a valued part of a university, but it seems that most professional students, save law students; find it difficult to play a full role in univer sity life ; this tends to give lawyers a broader outlook. (4) The 1,700 professionals in the public ser vice have three different roles to perform, according to circumstances. (a) to give specialist service (b) To inspect the work of others, and offer them advice—as in the Depart ment of Local Government and Education (c) To undertake technical operations — such as Artificial Drainage, Ancient Monuments, etc. The departments concerned had a tendency to regard their professional staff as inde pendent consultants rather than as part of the policy formation machinery. Profes-

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