Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In respect of Deputy Calleary's amendments which have been ruled out of order, it is a matter of common sense and prudence for individuals or companies with an intention to procure goods or services to establish first the cost or the estimated cost of these. It would be particularly pertinent in the circumstances in question here.

The reforms being carried out are being brought through the Legal Services Regulation Bill which the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, is sponsoring and which is currently before the House. These will provide for further disclosure of actual and potential costs to clients of any proceedings for which the legal practitioner is being engaged. That Bill is introducing a series of enhanced transparency measures on legal costs and is the appropriate vehicle for debate on the legal costs aspect of this.

In broader terms, it would not seem appropriate that the responsible regulator for the professions involved would advertise the fees of individual practitioners. This would be open to all types of misinterpretation, including, perhaps, a quasi-endorsement of the fees concerned. Alternatively, it could lead to the fees so publicised becoming set minima which, in effect, could impede competition among the relevant service providers who would have an officially published price list to hide behind. There is an inherent danger there. If the real purpose is to police levels of fees charged by the professions in question, I would contend that it is not appropriate to include such a provision in a specific and target measure as that under consideration here.