The Gazette 1994

GAZETTE

M W H

APRIL 1994

Public Liability Claims The RTE Tuesday File programme screened on 15 February examined the growth in public liability claims, particularly claims that were regarded as fraudulent and the financial effects of having to meet claims on local authorities around the country. The programme noted an increase in the number of claims being brought since 1989 when solicitors started to advertise. The Director General of the Law Society, Noel Ryan, who was interviewed on the programme, pointed out that in a pro-competition environment advertising was regarded as good for the consumer and this had led the Society to permit solicitors to advertise although many in the profession had been opposed to it.

on 21 February highlighted the case of a woman who had been awarded £490 by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal last June, but had been informed that it would be at least another two years before she would receive payment. The President of the Society, Michael V. O'Mahony, was interviewed on RTE Radio News-at- One about the Scheme of Compensa- tion for Personal Injuries Criminally Inflicted. He pointed out that since 1986, when the Tribunal's power to award compensation for pain and suffering under the Scheme had been abolished, the scope of the Scheme had ; become too narrow. "It is grossly unfair to the ordinary citizen who is the victim of a criminal assault through no fault of his own that he should be excluded from the right to claim for pain and suffering," he said.

1994, in particular, the argument that it was unlikely that any Minister could guarantee that if compensation awards were reduced there would be a corresponding reduction in the cost of premiums. Remarks by the Hon. Mr. Justice Hugh Flaherty, Senior Ordinary Judge of the Supreme Court, at a book launch, when he argued that the view that workers rights should be sacrificed for increased profits should have no place in our legal system, were published in the Evening Press of 8 February 1994. The Judge said there was a misconception among some lawyers and legislators that the law of civil wrongs was a glorified and expensive social welfare system. "The personal injury compensation system recognises the premium which a democratic society places on the citizen's interest in the recognition, and protection, of his right to bodily integrity," he said. A new commercial law journal The Commercial Law Practitioner was officially launched recently by An Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds TD. Published by Brehon Publishing Limited the journal will appear monthly and will providd'authoritative articles on important areas of commercial law as they affect practitioners. The editor of the journal is Thomas Courtney, Solicitor and the Executive Editor is Bart Daly. The new journal will contain select articles targeting the needs of the commercial law practitioner; a digest of recent company and commercial law cases; updates on company and commercial law and recent developments overseas. Each issue will review banking, commercial litigation, insolvency, commercial conveyancing, company law, international commercial law, arbitration and taxation. The Commercial Law Practitioner will retain an independent expert panel to

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Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal The front page of the Irish Independent

Barbara

Cahalane

N e w C o mm e r c i a l L a w J o u r n a l L a u n c h ed

Bart Daly, founder of Brehon Publishing Limited and Executive Editor of The Commercial Law Practitioner, at the launch of the publication.

is £165 and it is available from Brehon Publishing, Brunswick House, Brunswick Place, Dublin 2. n

ensure consistently high quality contributions.

j

The annual subscription to the journal !

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