The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

MARCH 1995

Compensat ion Fund Payments - January 1995 The following claim amount was admitted by the Compensation Fund Committee and approved for payment by the Council of the Law Society at its meeting in January 1995.

concentrating the existing problems in fewer centres, will serve only to increase the perception of inaccessibility and remove the administration of justice further from the people whom it is designed to serve. 9. Any economic consideration on which the proposal is based is surely misconceived. The public pay for the cost of litigation and, clearly, the public must find it cheaper to litigate in their own locality rather than having to go further afield. The expense of witnesses) from local areas to a centralised venue can only serve to increase the cost of litigation. In bringing justice to the people in Circuit Court venues, the additional costs (payable by the State but, ultimately, by the public) are limited to travel expenses payable to the Circuit Court judges and upkeep of the Circuit Court buildings. Compared to the costs and gross inconvenience of transporting all parties to a litigation action to a centralised venue, any saving in travel expenses payable to Circuit Court judges must be minimal. The costs of maintaining courthouses exist whether or not the Circuit Court venues remain as at present as, in the vast majority of cases, these courthouses serve a dual purpose as a District Court or, in some cases, a community centre. While the Society would concede that there may be an element of cost in maintaining the existing Circuit Court arrangements, it would argue that justice should not suffer to achieve a minimum of expediency. 10. The Society acknowledges that there may well be certain limited venues which might be identified, in consultation with the local Bar Associations and local community interest groups, where the necessity for Circuit Court sittings transporting litigants, their witnesses (including Gardai, doctors, engineers and lay

identified following the fullest of consultation at local level. The Society has received submissions from local Bar Associations which detail the impact that the Working Group's proposals would have on those areas and these submissions have been furnished to the Working Group. On a social level, the Society also acknowledges the detrimental effects that the Working Group's proposal would have on the fabric of rural Ireland. Society's view, casts doubt on the constitutional validity of the proposal under consideration. Article 34 of the Constitution provides, inter alia, as follows:- "The Courts of First Instance shall also include Courts of local and limited jurisdiction." Article 34 has been interpreted as referring not only to the District Courts, but also to the Circuit Courts. That being so, it is doubtful that, should the Working Group's proposal be adopted, the Courts thus established could be deemed to be "local" within the meaning of Article 34. favour of finding a solution to the problems that exist in the Circuit Court. These problems exist due to the high volume of work and have little or no relationship to the geographical situation identified 12. The Society is very much in by the Working Group. The Society would assert that, in addressing the acknowledged difficulties at Circuit Court level, the Minister for Justice should:- (a) appoint a sufficient number of judges to deal with the volume of work; and (b) provide suitable facilities in the existing venues to enable the judiciary, the legal profession and Court staff 11. There is a constitutional perspective which, in the

IR£

2,889.00

Diarmuid

Corrigan,

6 St. Agnes Road, Crumlin, Dublin 12.

Compensation Fund Payments - February 1995 The following claim amount was admitted by the Compensation Fund Committee and approved for payment by the Council at its meeting in February 1995.

IR£ 5,400.00

David Fitzpatrick 19 Main Street, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.

Sol ici tors Conf i dent i al Helpl ine

OVER 250 SOLICITORS NEEDED HELP THEY RANG 2 84 84 84 NEED HELP? JUST CALL 2 84 84 84

carry out the work efficiently for the benefit of the public and the administration of justice generally. N

might be discontinued. Those limited venues could only be

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