The Gazette 1994

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GAZETTE

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1994

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Focus on Access t o t he Profession, Legal Posts and t he Cour ts

Michael O'Mahony, was reported in an article in Business and Finance on 4 August as saying that the introduction of a ' 'cap" on personal injury awards would be "unworkable and probably unconstitutional". Michael O'Mahony said that "any move to fix damages through the introduction of an arbitrary points system based on a categorisation of injuries could have the result of depriving a claimant of his right of access to the courts. The judge, meanwhile, would be left there as an administrative officer without a judicial role." The business pages of the national daily newspapers reported on 11 August that 1993 had been a growth year for the Irish insurance industry but that the non-life sector was experiencing a continued rise in claims costs compared to revenue growth according to statis- tics compiled by the Irish Insurance Federation. The articles quoted the Deputy President of the IIF, John Gibson, as saying that consumers could not expect any meaningful reduction in premiums until the causes of high claims were tackled. He said the insurance industry itself was doing all it could to bring costs down but some factors, such as the high cost of each claim in Ireland, were beyond its con- trol. Another factor was the inefficiency and expense of the Irish legal system. The article in The Irish Times question- ed whether the insurance industry would translate lower personal injury payments into lower premiums and stated that, according to a Government source, a proposal was being seriously considered to set up an independent monitoring committee for the insurance industry. Such a committee would have responsibility for ensuring that lower compensation payments would lead to lower premiums.

hopeful of anything radical emerging from this process - least of all do they expect the Department to agree to the proposal for an executive agency." The journalist also commented that "it seems that the only answer the Government has to the country's deeply rooted court problems is to throw a few more judges at them." "Who judges the judges?" was the title of a feature article in the Irish Press on 9 August which examined the manner in which judges are selected "without even the veneer of public scrutiny". The article stated "there is no input formal or otherwise from the Law Society or Bar Council and there are no known criteria". In the article Michael McDowell TD was quoted as suggesting a commission for appointments and Gay Mitchell TD suggested that while the power of appointment should remain with the Government, there should be scrutiny of it by an Oireachtas Committee. The author of the article, Kieran Conway, commented that there was little likelihood of reform as the Department of Justice had stated that there were no plans to change the present system. The Irish Times on 29 July reported that greater transparency in the process of appointing judges had been called for by Dr. Eamonn Hall, Chief Examiner in Constitutional law for the Incorporated Law Society. The article quoted Dr. Hall as saying "at present no one knows how judicial appointments are made here or what criteria are applied". He called for a judicial appointments commission to advise the Government on the appointment of judges and an ad hoc Oireachtas Committee to interview candidates for Supreme Court positions, according to the article. Judicial appointments procedure

While the publication of the report of the Beef Tribunal dominated the period under review, with much coverage and comment about the level of fees paid to counsel appearing for the various parties at the Tribunal, nonetheless, a range of issues affecting access to the legal profession, legal posts and the courts were the subject of articles in the print media. Exclusion of solicitors from posts in the Attorney General's office The Irish Independent, Cork Examiner, Irish Press and Evening Press of 28 July reported on the Viewpoint publish- ed in the July edition of the Gazette, noting that the Law Society was calling for an end to the restrictive practice which renders solicitors ineligible for appointments in the office of the Attorney General, and that the Society had argued that solicitors were more than qualified to carry out such work. A feature article by Kieran Conway in the Irish Press on 29 July focused on the "delays and inefficiencies which are endemic in Ireland's legal system." The article dealt with many issues raised by the Law Society and the Bar Council in their joint submission to the Minister for Justice on the Courts Service, and noted that its key reform proposal was that the management of the Courts should be vested in an executive agency. The article reported a view advanced by the President of the High Court, Mr. Justice Liam Hamilton, that an executive agency would amount to an interference with the administration of justice which the Constitution reserved to judges and commented that, notwithstanding the President's views, "the law bodies have held their ground". The article quoted the Department of Justice as saying that the submission from the legal bodies was "under consideration". The journalist commented that "observers are not Does the law have to be so slow?

Dublin Corporation complains about claims

"Cap" is unworkable

The Irish Independent of 25 July reported that local authorities were

The President of the Law Society,

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