The Gazette 1995

MAY / J UNE ' " 5

N E W S

Submission to Dail Éireann Select Committee on Finance & General Affairs on Section 153 Finance Bill, 1995

"History was made today when the Law Society became the first body to make its submission to the Dail Committee on the Finance Bill " - Evening Press, 10 May. The following is the text of the Law Society Submission: Charter in 1888 and under Statute by the Oireachtas in 1954, as

Society views section 153, as applied to lawyers, as a civil liberties issue of genuine significance. Section 153 is a measure intended to assist the State to curb tax evasion. We wish to make it utterly clear at the outset that the Society, and the solicitors' profession whom we represent, in no way, shape or form condone tax evasion. We would condemn without hesitation any solicitor engaged, or assisting clients, in relation to tax evasion. Apart from the criminal penalties which such activity would attract, to be so engaged would be a matter of the most serious professional misconduct for a solicitor. It would be dealt with as such with the utmost severity by the Society and would be likely to lead to the ultimate sanction of the solicitor being struck off the Roll of Solicitors by the President of the High Court. There have been some suggestions that the Society's opposition to section 153 indicates an ambivalence towards tax evasion and a desire to protect clients who may be guilty of it from being brought to justice. That is most emphatically not the case. Any such suggestion is a defamatory misrepresentation of the Society's

subsequently amended as recently as 1994. It is charged by the Oireachtas with being the representative and regulatory body for solicitors in Ireland. The solicitors' profession has a long and proud history of service to the people of Ireland. Perhaps the most important role that lawyers can play is to stand between the State and its citizens when the rights of the latter are under threat. It is a role which rarely endears lawyers to the State but is one which the profession has never shirked and which it will not shirk on this occasion. One of the most disturbing aspects of section 153 is what we would term its 'slippery slope' dimension whereby the undermining of certain constitutional rights connected with lawyer/client confidentiality, once established, could be expanded on in years to come. Although the current proposal is confined to the tax affairs of companies, if the principle were established here, it is not difficult to envisage it being extended to the tax affairs of individuals and, indeed, beyond tax matters to other matters of issue between the individual and the State. It is because of this that the

We understand that this is the first occasion on which a Dail Committee has invited interested parties to attend before it to make submissions in relation to draft legislation. This is, therefore, a significant event in the history of the Oireachtas. It is an honour for the Law Society to be the first such interested party to be invited to make a submission to a Dail Committee and on behalf of the Society we wish to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and your Committee for the invitation to address you. The Minister for Finance in his Second Stage speech indicated that there were quite detailed discussions with the accountancy bodies prior to the measure under consideration today being announced. We wish to place on record that the Law Society was not consulted in advance about section 153 of the Finance Bill, 1995. Nor have we been afforded an opportunity to make representations since its publication, other than by writing to the Minister. In those circumstances this invitation is particularly welcome.

The Law Society was established by

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