Reform of Irish legal professional services long overdue

• Using language reminiscent of a contrite bishop, Bernard Allen TD, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, described the progress of reform in the legal profession as ‘seriously inadequate’. It might have been more honest to state that the absence of reform is a truly searing indictment of the Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform, the Law Society and the Bar Council.
  A robust and comprehensive case for root and branch reform was made in November 2005 by the Legal Costs Working Group and in December 2006 by the Competition Authority. These reflect prior recommendation made by the Restrictive Practices Commission, the Fair Trade Commission and the OECD between 1982 and 2001. The Competition Authority made 29 recommendations designed to overcome unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions on competition, of which 15 were to have been implemented directly by the Department of Justice Equality & Law Reform by June 2008. Only one of the 29 recommendations has been introduced. It is no longer necessary to pass an exam in the Irish language.
  
  The average gross income of an Irish lawyer in 2002, before the emergence of the property bubble, was €164,000. The total number of practicing lawyers in Ireland then, relative to our population size, was lower than in other common-law countries. Research also indicates that there is a very large variation in fees charged and that legal fees had risen faster than incomes in other sectors.
  
  The collapse of the construction sector has diminished legal earnings potential from property transactions and places the State as a more strategically important source of their fee income. There is still an appalling lack of transparency and predictability with respect to legal costs.
  
  The 2008 Annual Report of Dublin Docklands Development Authority, for example, indicates that this disgraced entity spent over €5.4 million on legal costs that year. But there is not a scintilla of explanation as to whom this money was paid, or what value, if any, was achieved by taxpayers'.
  
  While NAMA is intended to bring about a rehabilitated banking sector is it also to become an boundless, easily exploited, gold mine for lawyers, as various tribunals have been for fifteen years, because there was no competent adult supervision to control costs?
  
  The Comptroller & Auditor General indicated in Special Report 63, published in December 2008, indicated that the total cost of the Mahon, Morris and Moriarty Tribunals were difficult to precisely forecast but this Report states:
  
  Administration costs will amount to between €50 million and €52 million
  Tribunal legal teams will cost between €84 million and €87 million
  Litigation will cost approximately €4 million
  Third party costs could range from €157 million to €182 million based on the pattern of awards observed in the Morris and Mahon Tribunals
  The overall likely cost to the State of these three tribunals based on the pattern of costs experienced prior to December 2008 is estimated to be in the range of €336 million to €366 million
  
  The Solicitors Judicial Tribunal reported a 28% increase in the number of applications reporting professional misconduct in 2008 when the recommended reforms of the Competition Authority were to have been an accomplished fact. They cautioned how this spiralling trend in the number and nature of complaints is eroding trust, integrity and public confidence in how the profession is regulated. There is no pattern to the gender, geographic location, age or mental stability of those solicitors who are the subject of complaint. Their victims' can be alive or deceased. Subsequent media reports show no abatement in the trend of professional delinquency among solicitors. Therefore, when one looks into the wing mirror of one's car, it is important to realise that a rogue solicitor maybe closer than you realise.
  
  A case has been made that the Church can be successfully and transparently led by ‘wounded healers’ who could recover trust and esteem. Do the legal professional bodies also expect society to tolerate a possé of ‘wounded advocates’ whose charges are so excessive that they are regarded as the highest in the world? Is the leadership of these bodies so smug, weak and taciturn that they are content and sufficiently complacent to preside over a profession diminished by an epidemic of professional misconduct and unconcerned that their members are anything but consumer focused and competitive, in stark contrast to their counterparts in other common-law jurisdictions?
  
  Perhaps the Taoiseach should have also changed the title of the department that deals with law and order issues in the State to better reflect its actual scope. Should it be known as the Department of Policing and Prisons? It no longer has the equality mandate. There is no justice if consumers cannot access legal services on a transparent, genuinely competitive basis. A new title would reflect its flaccid, impotent approach to the delivery and embedding of reform in the legal profession and a failure to empower consumers with core information they need to deal with lawyers and make informed decisions.

Where to now for the Equality Agenda?

THE Irish Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by The Equality Authority that women be admitted to membership of Portmarnock Golf Club in County Dublin under the Equal Status Act.  It was a split 3:2 decision.

This issue consumed a great deal of the resources and crusading zeal of The Equality Authority and was seen by some as a litmus test for the future of the equality agenda.

The case made its debut at the District Court in November 2003 who found in February 2004 that Portmarnock Golf Club did breach the Act by excluding women from membership.  The Club’s licence to sell alcohol was suspended for seven days the following May, although the execution of this suspension was deferred until the legal processes had reached finality.

The High Court, in June 2005, overturned the decision of the District Court and supported the Club’s contention that the Equal Status Act interfered with the right of members to enjoy freedom of association.

The Equality Authority appealed the High Court ruling last year arguing that golf is not peculiar to men.  This was countered with the argument that the networking opportunities afforded through Club membership essentially restricted women unduly.

The 2009 budget of The Equality Authority was reduced by 43% to €3.3 million.  The chief executive, Niall Crowley resigned and was replaced by a former principal officer from the Department of Equality, Justice and Law Reform, Miss Renee Dempsey.  She was reported at the time of her appointment of bringing “a wide range of experience across several government departments”.  But perhaps the most vital aspect of her experience is an understanding of the mindset of the sponsoring government department where she previously worked. 

When The Equality Authority awarded €3,500 to a former pupil of Dunmore Community School in County Galway last February on the grounds that he was discriminated against when he refused to have a hair cut, in compliance of school regulations, I felt outraged. An award of €3,500 in response to an exclamation to a young male pupil having a “girl’s hair style” and wanting to be “a trend setter”!  They could have awarded this person €30 million and the basic facts would not be transmuted, so why was any money awarded, I wondered?  I also speculated will the recipient of this award sue every employer or every public institution that is perceived to impede him on the grounds that his hair is long?  If so, that could harm his employment prospects in the current climate.

I believed the time time had come last February for a priorities to reviewed, especially when splashing out taxpayers money is concerned and that perhaps fresh adult supervision at The equality Authority would consolidate that process  I shared my views then with the Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Chairman of The Equality Authority.  The position of chief executive had been vacant at that time but was filled following ‘an open, competitive and public process’.  The public profile of The Equality Authority has subsequently been less strident although a ricocheted gauntlet relating to its budget was  been thrown at the annual conference of The Green Party.

Any further change will be a matter for the Oireachtas.  Portmarnock Golf Club can continue to sell alcohol on its premises now that the legal process has reached finality.

Gormley Fails to Persuade Ahern to Restore the budget of The Equality Authority

It is clear that the coalition comprising this Government has distinct elements. Fianna Fail are the untuned diesel engine. The Green Party provide the heating, air conditioning and catalytic coversion. The Progressive Democrats are the timing chain that sundered at 30,000 kilometres following one hand-brake jerk too many by Michael McDowell. Jackie Healy Rae and Lowry are synthetic floor mats inside the vehicle.

The Equality Authority was one of the first casualties of public spending reductions when Dermot Ahern TD, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform cut the Authority's 2009 budget by 43% from €5.89 million to €3.33 million. The former chief executive, Niall Crowley, subsequently resigned but is to be replaced, despite the ban on pulic service recruitment.

John Gormley TD, Leader of the Green Party, at its recent annual conference, categorically stated that these cuts would be reversed but Minister Ahern confirmed today, April 22, this will not happen.

I find myself having little sympathy for the Authority. An award was made of €3,500 was made earlier this year to a former pupil of Dunmore Community School in Galway on grounds of gender discrimination. This arose from a 2004 dispute between the recipient of the award and the school authorities concerning the length of his hair. The person concerned was a Leaving Certificate pupil at Dunmore and sat the examination at another centre.

It was also reported that a €1,000 award was made in relation to a similar dispute at another school. Both awards are payable by the Department of Education and Science on behalf of the taxpayer.

I found it utterly incredulous that the State should have any involvement whatsoever in disputes of this nature and the thought of taxpayers money being awarded frankly appalled me. The Minister reported that €45 million in public funds has been committed to this Authority since it was established in 1999. It has clearly lost its credibility with the Minister and at least some sections of public opinion so it I am not surprised that this is the outcome and that the resources that it had hitherto enjoyed will be used for policing.

The expenditue of the Department of Justice Equality & Law Reform was €2.59 million in 2008 having increased by 51% since 2003. It is forecast to be reduced to €2.4 billion this year. Savings at The Equality Authority less than 2% of the projected savings. The marginal difference is minute but the political hiatus is deep. The Minister's has taken a bead at the Authority despite his generous comments about the recently published document Equality for All in a Time of Change.

The prosposed decentralisation of The Equality Authority is on hold although there are 16 staff already located there and a further 19 are based in Dublin. This will threaten the viability of the outlet that Birkenstock were rumoured to be planning for Roscrea.