Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 7, line 16, after "1954," to insert "THE SOLICITORS (AMENDMENT) ACT 1960,".

Solicitors appointed to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal by the President of the High Court must be practising at the time of their appointment, which is a basic legislative requirement. This has been interpreted as requiring that the solicitor holds a practising certificate for each of the five years of his or her membership of the tribunal. To obtain a practising certificate, as I am sure Deputy Flanagan is aware, professional indemnity insurance is a prerequisite. Therefore, a solicitor member who wishes to retire from practice during the currency of his membership of the tribunal must nonetheless retain costly professional indemnity insurance. This is a disincentive, first, for tribunal members to stay on to complete their term on the tribunal on retirement from practice, and, second, with regard to taking on a position as a tribunal member as it is less attractive for a solicitor who may be planning to retire. It is fair to say that in a body such as a disciplinary tribunal, the experience of an older solicitor can often be very valuable.

The chairman of the disciplinary tribunal has indicated to the Law Society that this has created practical difficulties for the tribunal. Some of the current solicitor members, who are quite senior, may at some stage during their five-year term retire from practice but remain on the tribunal.

Amendment No. 19 amends section 6 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1960 to ensure that no doubt exists in regard to the position of a solicitor who retires during a five-year term on the disciplinary tribunal. The provision will clarify that such a member who is a solicitor in good standing on appointment but who retires from practice, while still in good standing, during the course of membership of the tribunal will not be required to hold a practising certificate for the remainder of his or her term of membership. This would remove the requirement to retain professional indemnity insurance and make it more likely that the tribunal will not lose the benefit of the experience of valued members owing to this requirement.

Amendment No. 2 is a consequential technical amendment on that basic proposal.

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