Seanad debates

Wednesday, 12 November 2003

Courts and Court Officers (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second and Subsequent Stages.

 

In the same vein, the appointment of solicitors to the High Court is extremely rare. I believe there are a very small number in the High Court. In both avenues of the profession, there are excellent people who would be well qualified to fill those positions. I would like to see a balance within which we might ensure some element of competition. It has always struck me as anomalous that the body empowered to administer the competition laws to ensure that all businesses operate in an open and competitive way is in some way outside that remit. There is no evidence of much competition among barristers, though there is an element of it among solicitors. If one seeks to engage a barrister at a very reasonable figure for a day's work, which may be a fraction of what is being sought, one has no hope of getting one. Yet we are told there are those in the Law Library who are unable to make a living from the profession, while a number are leaving it. There is something wrong internally in the system that gives rise to that. If people are leaving because of insufficient remuneration to support them, then obviously—

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