The Gazette 1985

INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND GAZETTE

May 1985

Vol. No. 79 No. 4

Comment . . .

In this issue . . .

. . . All the News . . . .? R ECENTLY the Irish Independent (to its credit) gave prominence in its letters column to a letter from a victim of a "joy riding" car theft which made two points:— the first, that two of those charged with the crime, when convicted by a jury, had received heavy sentences; the second, that no report of the case or the verdict had appeared in any of the Dublin-based National newspapers. This letter highlighted a matter of growing concern to many connected with the administration of justice in Ireland, namely the decline in the volume of reports of court cases carried in the National newspapers. The public are entitled to be kept informed as to the manner in which justice is being administered in our courts — particularly the criminal courts. In the absence of day to day reporting of the ordinary business of the courts it is too easy to base unjustified criticism of the administration of justice system on the small sample of cases which are brought to the notice of the public. It may be a natural temptation to an editorial staff, faced with considerable pressure on space, to choose the sensational, the bizzare, the out of the ordinary. While no one would deny that the appetite of the public for "news" is whetted by the reporting of this type of case, the question must be raised whether a free and responsible press does not owe a duty to its readers to report the 'usual' as well as the unusual. In this respect our Provincial papers still provide a much more satisfactory level of reportage of the ordinary court proceedings, of the District Courts in particular. There has been a considerable decline in the number of reports of District Court cases published in even the Dublin evening newspapers over the years. The complaint is frequently made that only the plaintiffs or the prosecution's case is covered, and there is a vestige of truth in this; but more significant is the absence of day-to- day reporting of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cases in which the machinery of justice is seen to operate satisfactorily. The editorial staff of our National newspapers may not consider it "news" that there is a high percentage of convictions in criminal cases in this jurisdiction but it is a fact which their readers are entitled to know when they are presented, as they regularly are, with adverse comments on our police and court system. "Dog Bites Man" must be seen to be "news" in such an important area. • 123

Comment

123

Divorce in England

125

Practice Notes

131

Operate Your Own Word Processor

133

Crossword

135

I.B.A. Seminar

137

Minutes of Half Yearly Meeting

139

Know Your Council

142

How E.E.C. Law Affects the Practitioner Part IV

145

Obituaries

149

Education Note

151

Correspondence

152

Professional Information

153

Mary Buckley William Earley, Chairman John F. Buckley Gary Byrne Geraldine Clarke Charles R. M. Meredith Michael V. O'Mahony Maxwell Sweeney

Executive Editor: Editorial Board:

Liam O hOisin, Telephone 305236 Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford

Advertising: Printing:

The views expressed in this publication, save where other- wise indicated, are the views of the contributors and not necessarily the views of the Council of the Society. The appearance of an advertisement in this publication does not necessarily indicate approval by the Society for the product or service advertised. Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.