The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE INCORPORATE D LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990

GAZETTE

In this Issue

Vol. 84 No. 1 JanJFeb.1990

Viewpoint

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Enforcing Maintenance Obligations through the Welfare System

5 9

Practice Notes

President's Column

10 13

Lawbrief

Disciplinary Committee Annual Report Younger Members News

15 17 19 20 23 27 32 36 37

SYS News

Viewpoint

People & Places

Occupational Diseases — The problem of time Notaries Public in Ireland

ideology that legal aid should only be provided through centres has led to a most inadequate service being provided in rural areas. Again, with most of the cases being family law cases it is reasonable to assume that in a significant number of cases both parties to the dispute will require the services of the Scheme. In the absence of any private practitioner involvement this means that one of the parties is likely, in rural areas, to have to travel significant distances to consult with one of the Scheme's solicitors. The Scheme appears to have been a victim of the long-standing belief of the Government that the provision of a service is evidenced by the presence of a building from which the service is supposed to be delivered. It was particularly disappointing to find that the recent Budget did not appear to indicate any intention to provide any relief. In the past it has been noted that the pressure for additional funding has only been met on an 'ad hoc' basis. It is long past the time that the Civil Legal Aid Scheme be put on a proper statutory basis, properly funded and widened to include some priv- ate practitioner services particu- larly in rural areas. •

This Journal has regularly criticised the operation of the Civil Legal Aid Scheme, usually in conjunction with the publication of the Annual Reports. While these Reports them- selves have been exemplary, unlike many reports of similar bodies they actually updated the information on the operation of the Scheme as nearly as possible to the date of publication, the tale which they told was almost invariably a sad one. The recent resignations of the President of the Law Society and the Chairman of the Bar Council from the Civil Legal Aid Board have drawn public attention to this 'Cinderella' service. The criticisms which this Journal has made of this Scheme over the years still remain unanswered. The Scheme has never been set up on a proper statutory basis which after 10 years is really quite extra- ordinary. The under-funding of the Scheme in most of the years of its operation has led to the deplorable situation whereby many of its cen- tres are closed for significant periods except for "urgent" cases. As the vast majority of the cases which the Scheme handles are family law cases, it is reasonable to wonder whether there are many that are not "urgent". The rigid adherence to the

SFPS Update

Correspondence

Professional Information

* Executive Editor: Mary Gaynor Committee: Eamonn G. Hall, Chairman Michael V. O'Mahony, Vice-Chairman John F. Buckley Gary Byrne Patrick McMahon Charles R. M. Meredith Advertising: Seán Ó hOisín. Telephone: 305236 Fax: 3 0 7 8 60 Printing: Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford. * — The views expressed in this publication, save where otherwise 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. Daire Murphy John Schutte

Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. Tel.: 710711. Telex: 31219. Fax: 710704.

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