Dáil debates

Wednesday, 10 February 2021

Appointment of Member of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority: Motion

 

4:55 pm

Photo of Marian HarkinMarian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the appointment of Deirdre Malone by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority. She will make a significant positive contribution to the work of the authority, which plays an important role in ensuring confidence and trust in the legal profession.

I welcome the fact that the authority is ensuring gender equality in its membership with seven women and four men as members. It is also important that the majority of members on the board are what we call lay members. Five members represent the legal profession and six members represent consumers, legal education, legal costs, equality and access to justice and fair competition.

The authority is the independent regulator for legal service providers and its role is to work to ensure and improve standards in legal services and, crucially, to ensure value for money for consumers. The board is the first point of contact for any person who wishes to make a complaint about barristers or solicitors. The service is free and impartial. It investigates issues such as excessive fees, inadequate service and misconduct of any kind. Certain time limits apply so people need to be careful about this. Complaints can be made by letter or online.

With regard to excessive fees, it is clear the cost of legal services must be written in language the client can understand. The Legal Services Regulatory Authority also monitors advertising by solicitors and barristers. There are some restrictions, especially around advertisements for personal injury claims. The authority's annual report from March to September last year detailed the number and types of complaints and my colleague, Deputy Catherine Murphy, already outlined these.

I welcome some of the most recent recommendations from the authority, which deal with the monopoly role of the Law Society and the King's Inns in providing professional training so people may become solicitors and barristers. This monopoly must come to an end. The authority has proposed a new statutory framework for the education of lawyers. A single body would be responsible for the setting and maintaining of standards of legal education, and a new committee, the legal practitioners education and training committee, is proposed in the report. Its role would be to ensure existing and new providers adhere to the standards. One of the benefits of this would be to break down some of the barriers to entry to these professions that still exist.

Since 2016, a series of reports have recommended reform. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, welcomed the recommendations on breaking down this monopoly when she said we must address the administrative barriers that aspiring lawyers continue to face. This is important but we need to see it happen. Last year, we also saw an important change, whereby solicitors are now able to apply to become senior counsel, overturning a 300-year rule. There is no doubt that the authority is bringing the legal profession up to date and making it more accountable to citizens. Transparency is essential so that citizens can have trust in our judicial system. The authority is helping to ensure this. I wish the new member, Deirdre Malone, well in her work on this very important regulatory authority.

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