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

I move amendment No. 127:

In page 52, before section 54, to insert the following new section:55.—An application for the holding of an inquiry by the Disciplinary Tribunal under this Part shall be made by the Authority.”.

This provides that an application for the holding of an inquiry by the disciplinary tribunal will be made by the authority.
Amendments Nos. 128 and 129 are two technical amendments. The word “legally” in “legally required” and “may legally require” has been deleted.Amendment No 130 provides that the inquiry by the disciplinary tribunal will be conducted by way of oral hearing and will be in public. It also provides that the disciplinary tribunal may direct that the hearing of the inquiry or any part thereof be held otherwise than in public where it is satisfied that it is necessary to do so in the interests of justice. Amendment No. 131 substitutes “Authority” for “complainant”. Amendment No. 132 provides that the tribunal may appoint an expert if it requires the advice or assistance of an expert in respect of any matter. Amendment No. 133 provides for a requirement to notify the parties of a determination and the reasons for that determination. Amendment No. 134 deletes the word “client” and substitutes “complainant”, as "complainant" is a more appropriate description in this instance. With regard to Government amendment No. 135, we have inserted a provision that the legal practitioners' disciplinary tribunal may direct that the legal practitioner pay a sum, not exceeding €15,000 as restitution, or part restitution, to any aggrieved party. The section is based on section 7(9) of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1960 and will strengthen the sanctions available to the disciplinary tribunal.
By way of clarification, I wish to confirm thatI will be returning to the remaining provisions dealing with the legal disciplinary tribunal on Report Stage, when the remainder of the amendments have been finalised by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. I referred to that a short time ago and said that there are some additional amendments that the Parliamentary Counsel is still working on which are of relevance to this particular part of the Bill.