Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I seek clarification with regard to amendments Nos. 49aand 49b. The Minister of State referred to section 99 and said it was a critical part of the public consultation process. Can he clarify that there will be another opportunity to deal with client moneys in that context?

I refer to amendment No. 65a, which relates to contentious matters. I accept that the Government is pursuing this Bill, which was needed well in advance of its coming into office. I would like to quote something that was said nine years ago by the Competition Authority. It stated:

The Competition Authority strongly believes that direct access to barristers for legal advice should be extended to all members of the public. As is currently the case, barristers should be free to choose whether they wish to take on direct access briefs or not. It is not clear from the Competition Authority’s perspective why a barrister cannot represent direct access clients for contentious issues. There are some regulatory issues surrounding client’s monies, touting and advertising which would need to be addressed but these are hardly insurmountable. The Competition Authority believes that direct access for contentious issues would be beneficial for consumers but that the issues surrounding its implementation should be examined in more detail, by the Legal Services Commission recommended in Chapter 3.

I accept that this is a significant Bill and will change things in many ways. However, we need to have some very firm timelines on issues such as this.

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