The Gazette 1993

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GAZETTE

JULY/AUGUST 1993

Campaign Against Probate Tax Continues

A regular column which examines issues reported in the media concerning the Law Society and the solicitors' profession.

controversial new tax was being stepped up. The article quoted

| The Sunday Independent of 20 June, ! 1993 reported on comments made by j the President of the High Court, Mr. Justice Liam Hamilton, at the Parchment Ceremony in the Law j ; Society on 18 June, when he criticised i proposals to put a limit on the amount i of compensation that could be paid to personal injury victims. He was reported as saying that no two injuries were the same, and that victims of I accidents did not benefit from the sort | of lobbying efforts available to employers or to the insurance companies. 1993, was entitled "Rogue Lawyers- Solicitors who Go Bad." The article examined the current state of the | ! Society's Compensation Fund including the level of contributions made by | solicitors and the level of payouts. The ! article also described the regulatory j ; functions of the Law Society and com- j mented on the fact that the Society was j taking a tougher line with errant law- yers. Commenting on the Compensation Fund, the author of the article, Gerald | Flynn, said: "It is indeed rare for other professionals to rally round to compensate customers or clients of colleagues who defraud them." The I article also focused on recent disciplin- ary cases in the High Court against ! solicitors. The Irish Independent of 30 June, 1993, published a similar, though less detailed, article and commented that "the Law Society, which is self- regulatory, is working hard to reform I the damaging image. It has taken a tougher line on errant solicitors." The article also reported that there was an element of poverty creeping into the profession and that solicitors working on social welfare, family, criminal and employment law were "unlikely to make a killing." Regulatory Role of the Law Society | The cover story of the issue of Business \ and Finance published on 24 June, j

Raymond Monahan as saying "there will be a strong build up of resistance to the new tax from ordinary people as, increasingly, they become aware of its full legal ánd financial implications".

Alliance Against Probate Tax

The continuing campaign by the Alliance Against Probate Tax, which comprises ten organisations including the Law Society, received substantial coverage particularly in the regional newspapers. Most of the provincial newspapers published during the week of 7-14 June, 1993, reported that Law Society President, Raymond Monahan , foresaw serious financial and legal difficulties arising out of the tax, and the view of the IFA President, Alan Gillis, that opposition to the new probate tax was clearly intense and was continuing to grow. Most of the papers also reprinted in full the joint declaration by the Alliance which called on the Minister for Finance to abolish the tax. On the RTE Radio This Week programme on Sunday, 13 June, 1993, Ciaran Keys of the Law Society's Taxation Committee, warned about the impact of the tax on clients, and that it would make people less likely to have estates administered. On the same programme the Minister for Finance, Bertie Ahern , said that the probate tax would not result in the double taxation of estates and that it was a step forward in terms of tax reform because it widened the tax base. A statement by the Alliance Against Probate Tax refuting the Minister's arguments as being "totally disingenuous" and "misleading" was reported in the media on 15 June, 1993. Criticisms of the tax by Law Society President, Raymond Monahan, as "a quick fix measure" were reported in the Sunday Business Post of 20 June,

Bertie Ahern TD, Minister for Finance. His defence of probate tax was rejected as "disingenuous and misleading".

Personal Injuries

"Injury Claims: Fees Top £178m" was the heading on an article by Colm Murphy in the Sunday Tribune of 13 June, 1993, which reported that lawyers and other professionals shared an estimated £178m last year in legal costs arising from personal injuries actions. The article said this represented an 11% increase on the amount paid two years ago. The Daily Star and Irish Independent of 19 June, 1993, both reported on the address by the President of the Law Society, Raymond Monahan, at a Parchment Ceremony, in which he said that it was entirely misleading to point the finger at solicitors for the growth in personal injuries claims. The reasons for the increase in claims were that members of the public were now more mobile than ever, they engaged in a wider range of commercial transactions, leisure pursuits, and, in general, carried on life at a greater pace and lived longer.

1993. The Irish Press of 22 June reported that the fight to force a Government climb-down on the

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