The Gazette 1993

M

W

H

GAZETTE

SEPTEMBER 1993

II Capping" Proposal Criticised

The period from mid-July to early September was relatively quiet in the media concerning coverage of legal affairs, with the legal professions, for once, largely escaping "silly season "treatment.

Independent of 31 August, 1993 on the Annual Report of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board, which noted that motor insurance premiums in Ireland were 98% higher than the EC average while the claims payout was 160% higher here, journalist Gene McKenna said that j Minister Brennan's proposals had had a mixed response and he repeated the assertion that some Labour Ministers were known to have strong reservations about the plan to take the pain and suffering element out of court awards. He noted that the Incorporated Law Society "had led the criticism" of Mr. Brennan's plans. Resourcing of the Courts j A number of news items over the six week period reported on the apalling condition of various courthouses around the country. The Chairman-elect of the Bar Council, Frank Clarke SC, spoke out about the need to appoint another six judges in the High Court and said ' submission to the Minister for Justice on the need for adequate resourcing of the courts system. The Bar Council also called on the Government to ensure that representatives from the practising professions would be included on the Judicial Commission being set up to examine the administration and functioning of the courts, echoing a demand made publicly by the Law Society earlier this year. All the daily newspapers of 4 September reported the judgment of the Hon Mr Justice Lynch in which he made an order to the Minister for Justice to direct Louth County Council forthwith to provide courthouse accommodation suitable for the sittings and business of the Circuit Court in Drogheda, following a case taken by members of the Drogheda Bar Association seeking to compel the Minister to perform her duties under the Courthouses (Provision and Mainten- ance) Act, 1935. Barbara Cahalane • that the Law Society and the Bar Council were preparing a major

Incorporated Law Society when he had first announced the plans and quoted Mr. Brennan saying that he totally disagreed with the views expressed by the Law Society in a submission to him. A news analysis feature article in the Independent on the same day repeated much of the front page story and included the Minister's claims that research showed that awards here were up to 78% higher than the EC average. The following day, the Independent reported that Minister Brennan's plan might not have an easy passage through the Cabinet as it was understood that some Labour Ministers, in particular, had reservations about his proposals. The article also noted that the Law Society had reacted strongly to the latest report of the Minister's plans and had stated that his proposals would be unjust and would penalise ordinary people who suffered injury through no fault of their own. The article noted that the Society was calling on Mr. Brennan to abandon any move to interfere with the discretion of the courts to fully compensate people and that the Society had called for greater attention to safety, particularly in the workplace, more rigorous enforcement of the road traffic laws, an improvement in the condition of roads, greater resourcing of the courts system in order to reduce delays, and an examination by insurance companies of their administrative costs and practices, as ways of attempting to reduce the cost of insurance. An article in the Cork Examiner on 20 August, 1993 entitled "Law Society raps injury award plan", reported in detail on the statement issued by the Law Society on 19 August. In the Sunday Independent on 22 August, 1993 columnist Sam Smyth noted that the latest proposal would be the fourth "favourable" reform successive Governments had put in place at the behest of the insurance industry, but that insurance premiums had continued to spiral after the first three reforms. Reporting in the Irish

Justice Media Awards

The awards ceremony of the Law Society's inaugural Justice Media Awards competition received favour- able coverage, including photographs, in all the national daily papers on Saturday 10 July, the Sunday Independent of 11 July, and in the Western People, Corkman and Kerryman the following week. Inevit- ably, the newspapers focused in particular on the members of their staff who had won awards or received certificates of merit. The meeting of the Alliance Against Probate Tax with the Minister for Finance in mid-July received consider- able coverage in the provincial media in the subsequent fortnight. All the papers quoted Raymond Monahan, President of the Law Society, saying that the Minister had accepted that the Alliance represented a huge cross section of interests which were totally opposed to the introduction of the tax and reported that the Minister had agreed to conduct a review of the effects and the operation of the tax. Proposal to cap personal injuries awards. A front page story in the Irish Independent on 19 August, 1993, reported that a radical plan to cut insurance costs by limiting court awards in personal injuries cases was to be brought before the Cabinet by Commerce & Technology Minister, Seamus Brennan, and that the proposals could become law within the year. The article noted that Mr. Brennan had come in for strong criticism from the Probate Tax Campaign continues

251