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

This is a new, independent body. The legal services regulatory authority will decide how to advertise for the majority of its staff. When the debate on this legislation took place in the Dáil and during the Second Stage debate in this House, it was clear that most if not all Members in both Houses felt that there was a case to be made, given the decades of experience among the staff in the Law Society of Ireland in dealing with complaints and very complex legal issues and in the best interests of moving forward and having a seamless transition from one to the other, for ensuring some staff who handle complaints under the auspices of the complaints committee of the society, which operates independently, would transfer to the new authority. Members argued that we should make arrangements to transfer a limited number of staff to the authority so as not to lose their expertise. That expertise will be built on and there will be other staff, independent senior management and an independent board made up of the representatives to whom I have referred. Furthermore, the board will have a lay majority.

To answer some of the more detailed questions, the intention is that staff will preserve their current terms and conditions and will map onto a moderate public service grade. That will be done by ministerial order. It is a question of expertise in this area and transferring that to the new authority. That is the key issue. We are talking about a small number of people out of the total staff of the legal services regulatory authority. As I said, there was much agreement across both Houses that this was desirable in the interests of best practice and a smooth transition.

I would make the point again that there will be a lay majority on the board. There will also be representatives from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Legal Aid Board and other bodies, as well as independent management. While the staff concerned gained their expertise while working in another setting, they will be under independent management and an independent regulator.