Ivana Bacik (Independent)

In my Second Stage speech, I referred to section 15(1) the Bill, which states that "the Legal Services Ombudsman shall prepare and submit to the Minister a report . . . specifying the number of persons admitted to practise". This section is incomplete in the absence of a provision requiring the ombudsman to review the number of people who have left the profession and to monitor the figures in general. In light of what I have said about cost overruns, I hope that will not be too costly an exercise. With some of my colleagues, I participated in a research programme that was funded by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform some years ago. We found it quite straightforward to collate the number of people who had been admitted to practice over the years and to break them down by gender. I do not think it would cost too much if a little more detail were to be included in the report submitted to the Minister, thereby building on the research we did and the figures that are available to the Law Society and the Bar Council.

A little more information about the nature of the profession should be provided. When we surveyed barristers and solicitors extensively, we found evidence of real concern about the existence of a discriminatory culture in the profession. Many of those who responded to our survey described it as an "old boys' network" or "old boys' club". They suggested that the culture in question was militating against the retention by the profession of able people. In particular, young female solicitors in rural areas complained that they encountered exclusion from social networks etc. rather than overt discrimination. We are concerned that people who should be retained in the profession, good and meritorious professionals, may be lost to it. The Bar Council has suggested to the Minister that the ombudsman should have less reporting functions rather than more. While it is useful that section 15 of this Bill will ensure that the ombudsman monitors the number of people in the profession, somewhat more detail could be supplied. I accept that section 15(1)(b) provides that the ombudsman shall assess whether "the number of persons admitted . . . is consistent with the public interest in ensuring the availability . . . at a reasonable cost". While that is a good measure, there is room for other criteria to be applied by the ombudsman in gathering figures for the purposes of these reports.