Results 12,341-12,360 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: If I accepted the new subsection proposed by Senator Barrett in amendment No. 114 it would create confusion about the letter of engagement, which is intended to clearly delineate for a customer which services are being provided by a legal practitioner in a multidisciplinary practice by making it simultaneously a bill of costs. This would clash with the extensive legal costs transparency...

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I will accept the word "shall" in a later amendment. That is not a problem.

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: This is a technical amendment reflecting that we now have the Court of Appeal so the references to the Supreme Court are changed to references to the Court of Appeal.

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I believe there will be sufficient leeway afforded by the current provisions for this and many other relevant aspects to be raised and taken into account in the reviews.

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I am concerned that this amendment would compound the burdens of reviewing and reporting of the new authority in its first year of operations. We have put considerable thought into this and I have made some changes to it, as the Senator knows. It has been carefully laid out and sequenced under the Bill so as to make them realisable within achievable timeframes. I do not want to upset that...

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Amendments No. 125 relates to the insertion of a new Chapter 3 of Part 8. The new Chapter provides for the introduction of an option for solicitors firms and legal partnerships to operate with the benefits of limited liability within a limited liability partnership business model with protection for the consumer in the form of both professional indemnity insurance and ongoing regulatory...

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I will have that provision looked at again in case there are any unintended consequences. I will come back on Report Stage.

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: With this amendment, the Senator wishes to remove a basic principle of the Bill whereby legal costs are prohibited from being expressed as a specific percentage or proportion of damages or other moneys payable to a client. The Senator mentioned this earlier. That would be the impact of this amendment so I cannot accept it.

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: We want to make sure the explanation that has to be provided for a client of the procedures available to deal with a dispute about legal costs will have to be in writing. As I accept the Senator's point that it might be somewhat ambiguous, I will also look at that issue.

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The only point I make in that regard is that it would have implications for other periods of time that will apply under the Bill in relation to legal costs and where they are in dispute. I am taking all timeframes into account. I will consider the 14 day period and see whether it is feasible to make it a little longer without impacting too much on the other carefully calibrated sections in...

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Amendments Nos. 143 to 145, inclusive, are not acceptable as they would take the one sixth rule out of the equation in relation to who would pay the bill for a legal costs adjudication. As section 122, as passed by the Dáil, provides that a legal practitioner shall not charge any amount in legal costs in the circumstances set out in the section, I do not see the need for amendments Nos....

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Section 146 makes statutory provision for the awarding and revocation of "patents of precedence", which are more commonly known as the title of senior counsel. This title is typically awarded to barristers with considerable experience and expertise in their field. It is a form of recognition for high-end legal skills and depth of legal knowledge – a quality stamp of sorts. In the...

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The current wording covers both barristers and solicitors, whether they are acting solely or together.

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: This is a technical amendment which is designed to bring clarity. The section provides that employee barristers will be able to act on behalf of their employers in court. Senator Hayden spoke on a related point. They are currently prohibited from doing so under Bar Council rules. The section also provides that the legal professional representative bodies will not be able to prevent their...

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Bill creates the conditions for a new type of barrister to emerge, namely, one who chooses to provide his or her legal services outside the traditional Law Library model. In that context, the amendment provides that the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 will be amended to allow the legal services regulatory authority to become the designated authority...

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Senator's amendments would negate an intended regulatory power of the new regulatory authority regarding movement between the professions of solicitor and barrister. The proposed references to “qualifications” are considered unnecessary in light of the fact that the question of being duly qualified to practise as a solicitor or barrister is already comprehended by the...

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The amendment proposes the insertion of a replacement section 158 which deals with the advertising of legal services. A key purpose of the amendment is to bring the State into compliance with Article 24 of the EU services directive. That EU directive requires, in general terms, the elimination of any rules, practices or regulations that are unreasonably restrictive on a lawyer's right to...

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Is it possible for me to make a number of points on some of the points that emerged for Report Stage?

Seanad: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I wanted to make a point in respect of a number of amendments that I want to bring on Report Stage. We have discussed some of them today. Some relate to pre-action protocols in clinical negligence cases and some transitional provisions which we discussed earlier. There is also an amendment to update the protected disclosure section of the Bill in light of the Protected Disclosures Act of...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: International Terrorism (24 Nov 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The recent terrorist attacks in Paris and the follow-on events in France and Belgium have focused Europe's attention very firmly on the threat from extremists linked to the conflict in Iraq and Syria. The subsequent attack in Mali clearly demonstrates the truly international dimensions of this issue. While these events have been truly shocking they cannot be allowed to undermine the...