John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Minister for Justice and Equality is to be commended for introducing the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011, which provides for the much anticipated and necessary changes to the manner in which legal services are provided and the legal profession is regulated in Ireland. For many years there has been resistance to legal change in this country, much of it within the legal profession itself. However, there is a realisation by now from all stakeholders that change is needed and can benefit both the legal profession and the public.

The regulation of the entire legal profession - barristers and solicitors - is of fundamental importance to the proper administration of justice in Ireland. Such regulation must be independent, transparent, accountable and above reproach. The vast majority of barristers and solicitors are above reproach but it is vital that any deviation from the highest standards is dealt with in a fair, independent and transparent way.

Until now, rightly or wrongly, the view among the general public is that barristers and solicitors have not been regulated in any meaningful way. They would say that very few barristers have been censored or suspended, although there has been some examples recently. Solicitors live in the real world. They are not immune from the current economic difficulties which exist for all who are living in Ireland. The costs of legal practice have escalated in recent years, particularly in the area of professional indemnity insurance, which is compulsory for all solicitors.

The provision of legal services, like other professional services, must be regulated in the public interest. There is existing regulation of legal professionals, but there have been many public examples of why the current system, whereby legal professionals are regulated and represented by the same body, is not effective and cannot be sustained. The best examples of the failure of the current system to regulate its members are almost certainly not in the public domain, having been sheltered by an ineffective, untransparent and self-regulatory regime. There is no doubt but that the interest of the public would be considerably better served by an independent and modern model of regulation. I welcome the Law Society's recent change of position on how clients make complaints. The society has acknowledged for the first time that the best interests of the public and the profession would be served when client complaints were made to an independent body and not to the society itself.

I have spoken many times of the challenges facing small and medium sized businesses in my constituency and beyond. One such challenge is the professional costs, including legal fees, associated with establishing and running a business in the current regulatory environment. The new legal costs regime proposed in the Bill, which will make it easier for businesses and members of the public to understand, account for and dispute legal costs arising, is to be welcomed. As legislators, we too have a duty to improve the quality and clarity of legislation and regulation emanating from this House in order that members of the public can understand and address their legal obligations without recourse in every case to solicitors or barristers.

The regulation of solicitors under the Solicitors Acts as administered by the Law Society has become the subject of serious scrutiny by members of the public and the majority of solicitors. We have the debacle of the Solicitors Mutual Defence Fund becoming insolvent to the tune of almost €170 million. The company sought to trade out of its difficulties and continued to take money in premiums from unsuspecting solicitors for professional indemnity insurance cover. The directors of the fund and Law Society should have known the company was insolvent. Solicitors are now burdened with the added problem of rescuing the Solicitors Mutual Defence Fund and covering the cost of funding its run-down and insolvency, notwithstanding that the majority of practising solicitors acted prudently in dealing with their professional indemnity insurance.

The regulation of solicitors has become bureaucratic and costly. It is simply not good enough that members of the public with genuine grievances against solicitors can wait up to two years to secure a decision from the Law Society. Solicitors can be the victims of unsubstantiated and unrealistic claims, particularly when the Law Society's investigating accountants incur substantial expense and difficulty in attempting to deal with a system that is not fit for purpose, as is the case at present.

I welcome the Minister's willingness to meet, consult and seek submissions from all the stakeholders. His confirmation that he is considering some relevant amendments for the Committee Stage debate, such as an amendment to remove the requirement to obtain the Minister's consent for any code of practice proposed by the regulatory authority and amendments to remove any doubt that may exist concerning the independence of the proposed legal services regulatory authority in the context of the appointment of members thereto, demonstrates his determination to get the legislation exactly right. I commend him on introducing a long overdue Bill which will be enacted as part of the Government's reform of the country's institutions and structures.

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