The Gazette 1967/71

scribed by the regulations and the form of accountants' certificates are similar to the requirements made under statutory regulations in England and more recently in Scotland. One of the difficulties anticipated in connec– tion with these regulations is that accountants, like solicitors, carry a heavy burden of work and that it may be difficult to obtain professional accountancy services in some of the remote areas. Representatives of the Council have been in discussion with representatives of the Institute of Chartered Accountants which is the principal accounting body in the State and they are satisfied that most of the anticipated difficulties can be solved. An accountant is defined in the regulations as a person approved by the Council who is a member of either the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland or the Association of Certified and Corporate Accoun– tants or any other person who is considered by the Council to have adequate qualifications or experience in the auditing of accounts. The regulations provide that each practising solicitor shall notify the Society by 10th June 1967, of the name, address and professional quali– fications of his accountant and of his accounting date. The accountant's certificate is to be lodged with the Society within six months after the accounting date in each calendar year. On 2nd March last the Society made the Solicitors Accounts Regulations 1967 revoking all the existing regulations since 1966 including the Solicitors Accounts (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 1966 which provide for accountants' certificates and re-enacting all the provisions with some small necessary modifications. The new regulations were issued to all members with the March number of the Society's Gazette so that every member has now in his hands a copy of the consolidated regulations. The additional work falling on the Society's office in connection with these regulations is very heavy and members are asked to co-operate by sending in the necessary statement as to their accountants and account– ing dates, if this has not already been done; otherwise there will be a vast amount of unnecessary correspon– dence with members who are in arrears and the general business and administration of the Society will suffer. The statutory contribution to the Compensation Fund made by each practising solicitor was reduced from £40 to £30 for the present practice year. The statutory obligation of the Council is to maintain a contribution of £20 per annum but this may be increased or reduced by special resolution of the Council if they are of the opinion that it would be justified by the financial posi– tion of the fund. The statutory contribution was in– creased to £40 for the practice year ending 5th January 1967 as the result of several unprecedented losses during that period. The resulting increase in the capital assets of the fund provided a surplus at 30th September 1966 of over £45,000 after making provision for all forseen liabilities and the Council accordingly felt justified in reducing the contribution to £30 for the present prac– tice year. The position of the fund is reviewed in each September and I hope that it will be possible to make a further reduction in the amount of the contribution in the light of the financial position as it will then be known. Solicitors are the custodians of amounts of clients' monies running into many millions of pounds in the aggregate and it is essential that we should provide security through the Society for our professional obliga– tions. It should also be known that no profession in the State has accepted financial obligations of the nature The Compensation Fund

and extent which have been voluntarily undertaken by our profession. The Compensation Fund Committee which administers this work is extremely anxious that any claim should be paid promptly. There has been unavoidable delay in some cases because of the difficulty of investigation and some apparently unavoidable delay in the bankruptcy office in admission of the claims. In the majority of cases the Society investigates the claims and pays the amount in advance of proof of debt in bankruptcy but in one or two cases we have been warned by the Bankruptcy Office that the claims may not be genuine and the Society for the protection of the fund have therefore, been obliged to defer admission and payment until the Bankruptcy Office is satisfied. This is a matter completely outside our control and it is greatly regretted by the Council because it is obviously essential that every genuine claim should be paid with the least possible delay. All Bills introduced in the Oireachtas are examined in the Society with a view to ascertaining whether they affect prejudicially the interests of the public in the special field which the profession has expert experience or the rights and independence of the profession. This is a very heavy burden because of the amount and com– plexity of current legislation. Sometimes an apparently innocuous amendment of an existing statute may have far reaching consequences. In appropriate cases the Society makes immediate representation to the respon– sible Minister. It is also the policy of the Society tc invite public attention to such matters of public interest by press releases. The Criminal Procedure Bill of 1965 which recently became law as the Criminal Procedure Act, 1966, con– tains a very serious invasion of the rights of citizens under the legal aid scheme. The Act as it became law discontinues legal aid at the preliminary investigation before the District Justice of criminal offences. This was apparently done in the supposed interests of public economy. It is also worthy of note that the criminal aid scheme was amended, not as might be expected by a special statute amending the Legal Aid Act, but by a section inconspicuously inserted in an Act dealing with matters of Criminal Procedure unconnected with legal aid. The Council drew attention to the fact that if legal aid is required it is all the more essential at the pre– liminary investigation of the offence before the District Justice, where vital and far reaching decisions must be made by the defence. If legal aid is unnecessary at this stage it is difficult to see what useful purpose is served by giving it at all. The representations of the Council on this vital matter were unfortunately unsuccessful and the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967, has since become law with this objectionable provision. The Council made representations to the Minister for Local Government that a provision in the Road Traffic Bill which would enable the Minister for Justice to remit a disqualification to hold a driving licence should be omitted from the Bill. The reason given for this change in the law is that notice of appeal against a disqualification pending the appeal unless the District Justice on special grounds so orders and that some District Justices were unwilling to suspend the operation of the disqualification. In such cases injustice would have been done to the driver if the Circuit Court on appeal subsequently found that the disqualification should be removed. It was pointed out to the Minister for Local Examination of Legislation