Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps I could respond to two issues. Deputy Finian McGrath referred to a professional, independent and impartial system to adjudicate on allegations of misconduct and emphasised the importance of such a system being in place in which there can be public confidence to deal with fraud or dishonesty. That matter has been at the heart of this Bill since it was published - that is, to have a system in which there is public confidence and in which there can be no doubt of any description about the independence of the body dealing with adjudication matters. The body must not be perceived to be an arm of the legal profession, whether it is fair or unfair to so describe it, but must be seen to be independent, and it must have a series of principles prescribed which it must apply in dealing with allegations of fraud, misconduct or other types of misbehaviour. The philosophy behind the Bill sets out that objective from the start and in these provisions the time we have had has allowed us to tease out to a greater extent aspects of the architecture which I consider to be important.

That feeds in also to answering your question, Chairman. When this body is established, an individual who believes or alleges that he or she has been a victim of misconduct by a solicitor or barrister can, without requiring legal advice, make the complaint to the legal services regulatory authority and the authority will have an obligation to assess the matter in the manner detailed in the very extensive provisions we have been discussing this afternoon. He or she should not be intimidated. It is not a question of having to make a phone call to the Law Society or the Bar Council to make a complaint about somebody who is a member of either of those bodies. It is about contacting a body that is independent of each of the representative bodies of the two arms of the legal profession. I hope that at a very early stage in its life this body will be seen to be independent and will establish both its credibility and fairness by the manner in which it deals with complaints received. Its fairness in dealing with complaints, both to the complainant and the person who is the subject of the complaint, mean the proper procedures will apply. It will receive everything from spurious complaints to very serious and valid ones. We are trying to provide as detailed an architecture as possible to enable that to happen.