Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. This Bill is long overdue. It is essential that the new legal services regulatory authority is up and running as a matter of urgency. The delivery and enactment of this Bill remains the subject of a country-specific recommendation under the EU semester process which has succeeded the troika programme. I welcome the fact that the European Commission will continue to monitor this Bill's progress closely.

The Bill as amended and enhanced by the Dáil is a very comprehensive Bill of 158 sections spread over 13 Parts. It provides for the new independent legal services regulatory authority with responsibility and oversight of both solicitors and barristers. It is of paramount importance that the independence of the new authority, in both its appointment and its functions, is transparent in all respects. I welcome the clarification by the Minister regarding the composition of this body.

The independent complaints systems to deal with public complaints, including those relating to professional misconduct, is a vital part of this Bill. I have been contacted by several people who believe that they were ill-served by the current system which caused great trauma to people who believed their legitimate complaints were not dealt with in a fair and transparent way.

The legal practitioners disciplinary tribunal will replace the two separately operated tribunals which currently exist. I know that the public will now make their complaints directly to the new authority. I hope this is not another case of the legal profession policing themselves. I would welcome the Minister of State's observations in his reply to the debate. I welcome the fact that provision has been made for the informal resolution of more minor and consumer-type complaints such as those about inadequate services.

The new and enhanced legal costs requirement will hopefully bring greater transparency to legal costs and will apply to barristers as well as solicitors. The Bill sets out for the first time in legislation a set of legal costs principles. It also provides that a new office of legal costs adjudicator will replace the existing Taxing Master to deal with disputes about legal costs. It will also prepare guidelines and maintain a public register of determinations. I hope that this will speed up the process as I know that many legal practitioners have expressed frustration at the current delays in the Taxing Master's office which may be due to a lack of resources in the office but I am not certain. Whatever the case I hope that the office of the legal costs adjudicator will be adequately staffed to prevent long delays with determinations.

This Bill facilitates new forms of legal services provision such as legal partnerships and multidisciplinary practices that take account of the emergent new business models in other common law jurisdictions and the significant advances made in business technology. It does not impose new models on legal practitioners but rather the intention is that the new models will operate successfully alongside the existing modes of business used by legal practitioners, including small solicitors' firms and for barristers and the Law Library. The new models will remove current restrictions on the way they deliver their services. They will facilitate consumers by providing more choice, better access and, in due course, lower costs. It will also facilitate the removal of barriers to competition in the legal services market which were identified by the Competition Authority over nine years ago.

I welcome the Minister's amendments on Report Stage in the other House which will further enhance regulation and governance. Part 8 of the Bill refers to these matters. Besides the Competition Authority, the European Commission has long referred to the lack of competition in legal services in this country. I hope that this Bill adequately addresses this lack of competition.

This Bill deserves the utmost scrutiny as it deals with many matters which deserved attention long before now. I commend the Minister and her predecessor, the former Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter, who believe that reform of the legal services and greater transparency will remove some, if not all, the obstacles to competition in the area of legal services. I know that legal practitioners, nationwide, will await the final version of this Bill which will chart a course for them into the future. I know that the EU will be very interested in how this Bill will provide greater competition in the marketplace. Above all, I hope that this Bill will give the ordinary people of Ireland a legal service that is open, transparent and competitive and which instils more confidence in a profession which is so important in the administration of justice.