Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage

10:20 am

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I move amendment No. 19:


In page 15, before section 9, to insert the following new section:10.--(1) A person shall be disqualified from and shall cease to hold office as a member of the Authority if he or she--
(a) is convicted on indictment of an offence,
(b) is convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty,
(c) in the case of a member who is a legal practitioner, is struck off the roll of solicitors or the roll of practising barristers, as the case may be, or, following the investigation of a complaint under Part 5, is the subject of--
(i) a finding under section 59 that there has been misconduct on his or her part, and the member concerned has not brought an appeal under section 61(2)(a) against the determination concerned within the period referred to in section 62(1), or
(ii) an order of the High Court under section 62(3)(b), section 62(4) (other than paragraph (ii)) or section 63 (other than subsection (2)(b)),
(d) has a declaration under section 150 of the Companies Act 1990 made against him or her or is subject or is deemed to be subject to a disqualification order by virtue of Part VII of that Act, or
(e) ceases to be resident in the State.
(2) A person who is appointed to the Authority as a lay member shall cease to hold office where he or she ceases to be a lay person.".
Amendment No. 19 is primarily a technical amendment for drafting clarity. It is a reproduction of section 8(13) of the Bill. It has been placed as a separate provision in this amendment. It is only significant in so far as it does not reproduce the criteria of bankruptcy and arrangements with creditors as disqualifying criteria for membership of the authority. These are proposed to be removed from the Bill, as I feel that they are no longer appropriate since the enactment of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 and the establishment of the Insolvency Service of Ireland. We are in a new era, where the stigma of bankruptcy has been superseded by new resolution frameworks. I do not want to bring the old approach to these issues into the enactment of new legislation.