Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand in part the point Senator O'Donovan is making. Amendment No. 156, which comes early here because it has been grouped, is a technical amendment to the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994. Primarily, the body of this issue is dealt with in section 5. We will be going into considerable detail on that because that is about how the complaints and discipline are dealt with. It sets up the entire framework for the new authority dealing with all complaints. It will be very straightforward. If anyone else has a complaint, it goes to the legal services regulatory authority, LSRA. It can then seek the help of and, if necessary, get inspections and reports from the Law Society's financial experts because, as Senator O'Donovan will be aware, the solicitor's financial affairs will continue to be overseen by the Law Society but under the supervision of the LSRA. Amendment No. 156 is the technical amendment to the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994, but we are getting into the debate that is substantially dealt with under section 5. I will be going into a lot of detail about how the complaints and discipline issues are to be dealt with, the new structure that will be set up and the replacement of the current two disciplinary bodies with a new body. That is merely a preliminary explanation for the Senator. It is the whole of section 5 and we will be looking in detail at how this will work.