Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not have much more to say and I can guarantee we will not be here for much longer. Earlier when the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, was in the Chamber, I stated I was disappointed that the idea of multidisciplinary practices, which emerging international best practice tells us is not the way to go, was not being scrapped. It was the previous Minister's brainchild and there is no demand for multidisciplinary practices coming from the Irish people. I do not know of any Deputy who has been lobbied that what we need in the area of justice is multidisciplinary practices, where we have the best and brightest accountants, solicitors and barristers in the one building and where those with the most money can access them. The current system works with regard to access. Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, has pointed out its concerns that citizens will not be able to access through their solicitors the array of barrister expertise that they now can.

The Minister has put before us six months of research and consultation and she will have the latitude to make a call. I ask her to scrap this and give up Deputy Alan Shatter's brainchild. She is a new Minister with a fresh set of ideas and I ask her to abandon these multidisciplinary practices and maintain the system we have. People are demanding many other reforms, such as a real reduction in the cost of accessing justice and legal practitioners, and the mediation Bill, which is long overdue. This idea of multidisciplinary practices should be scrapped. There is no need or demand for them. They have proven not to be in the best interests of citizens internationally. Very few good case studies argue for them. I ask the Minister to please scrap these multidisciplinary practices and let us not have a year of wasted time.

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