The Gazette 1991

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1991

Civil Legal Aid Report (Cont'd from page 403) 8. The Legal Aid Board should be entitled to recover costs against unsuccessful parties. r 9. In 1977 the Pringle Committee estimated that the cost of introducing a comprehensive scheme of legal aid would be £2m. That figure translated into 1991 prices would now be just over £6m. Currently, t he Government is spending only £2.5m a year. The cost of a properly funded comprehensive legal aid scheme is not high and the Committee believes that even in t imes of financial stringency it is a vital service. If these recommendations were imp l emen t ed, t he ex i s t i ng scheme could be substantially improved and the cost involved would not be inordinate and certainly not disproportionate to the importance of the issue involved. The report of the Committee has been approved by the Council of the Law Society and a copy has been submitted to the Minister for Justice. The members of the Committee were: Moya Quintan, (Chairman), Frank O'Donnell, Ernest Margetson, Michael Rei/ly, Judge of the District Court, Eugene Davy, Me! Cousins, Noel C. Ryan, and Linda Kirwan (Secretary). •

Solicitors or suspended f rom practice. I would like to take this opportunity to advise all partners of firms that they should take an active interest in ensuring that the Solicitors Accounts Regulations are rigidly adhered to, because unless they do so they will be equally responsible for any breaches of the Regulations should they arise. In some instances false and mis- leading information was given to clients and the Society. It is incum- bent on each solicitor to reply fully and accurately to any enquiry which may be received from the Law Society. Obviously situations where a solicitor misleads his client in rela- tion to the settlement of an accident claim, and then proceeds to settle her action and endorse her settle- ment cheque without her consent must be viewed with gravity be- cause they are particularly damaging to the reputation of the profession. A feature of most complaints which come before the Committee is the failure of solicitors to reply to cor- respondence from clients or the Society. This is a constant omission by members of the profession who appear before the Committee and is a source of exasperation especially when it transpires that a complaint would not have been pursued had the solicitor responded to a client or the Law Society. I have already indi- cated in a previous report that the Committee views and will continue to view such failures as very serious, and as sufficient grounds for mis- conduct and in the absence of an adequate explanation will report such findings to the President of the High Court. During the year Mrs. Moya Quintan and Ms. Elma Lynch were re- appointed to the Committee by the President of the High Court for another period of five years. I would like to record my thanks to the members of the Committee for their hard work and support during the past year and to Mary Lynch, Clerk to the Committee, who looks after the work and administration most expertly. Walter Beatty Chairman 3 December, 1991 (A list of the members of the Disciplinary Committeeappears on page 390 of this Gazette).

Correspondence Dear Sir,

I came to live here in Italy approximately six weeks ago, it being my i n t en t i on when I mastered the language sufficiently to return to the profession. In the meantime, I was advised very strongly by the Department of Social Welfare in Ireland to register myself immediately w i t h the Department of Labour and Finance here in order to obtain a Revenue Number and also to get myself registered as unemployed and thus keep up my pension rights until I am in a position to pay tax or social insurance. After four weeks of no less than 14 visits to numerous government offices, I have finally succeeded. Amongst the many details I was required to give was my mother's maiden name. One office insisted on seeing my original Parchment. Having made arrangements to have this forwarded, I was informed by a different office that it was quite useless as my qualifications did not apply here. In another office, I dis- covered them checking up on Social Welfare requirements in Irelandl I write to alert any members of the profession considering coming to work here to be prepared for endless delays, the fact that we are all EC members will not make one

bit of difference. Yours faithfully, Lavinia Anderson, Via Aia S, francesco 19, 03013 Ferention FR, Italy.

Breslin & Associates 4 Fairbrook Terrace, Rathfamham Dublin 14 Bookkeeping-Accountant with 8 years' experience in Solicitors' accounts will provide complete management package, client and office accounts, taxation submission. Contact Anne Breslin Telephone: 933069

YOUR WILL can help Adreen Cheshire Home Shillelagh For donations and further particulars contact: Jarlath Tunney or Margaret Warren Ardeen, Shillelagh, Co. Wicklow. T«l : (055) 29143 Fax : (055) 20170

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