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

On the amendments we accepted the last day, the only new amendments submitted today are ones that are tidying up the Bill. I would say there is no policy change. Where there is any key point on policy, I am noting that, with the main one today being that concerning the pre-action protocols.

I have to say to Senator Norris that there is no question of the work that has been put into this. I cannot emphasise enough the amount of work that is being carried out by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Office of the Attorney General. We are making major changes in terms of the work of the Bar Council and the Law Society and in terms of transitioning to a new regime. With regard to the compensation fund, my predecessor, Deputy Alan Shatter, decided it would stay with the Law Society. There were good reasons for that but I have had to work through the consequences of it. The issues about public liability, which I discussed the last day and will discuss again today, have to be dealt with. I was asked by Senator Barrett to build in a longer opportunity for people to make complaints, and I have accepted that. I have also accepted from the last Seanad debate the amendment which means people who live outside the State can be on the board of the legal services regulatory authority, and I have accepted a number of other amendments put forward by Senator Barrett.

As we go through the Bill, one will see there is a huge amount of what I would genuinely call tidying up, for example, having to change sections because new sections have been inserted. I would ask for the forbearance of the House in going through the Bill. I will address whatever sections I have to and I am here to give Members as much information as possible in regard to what is a large, complex Bill. A huge amount of work has been done and needed to be done on it, and it is hugely detailed work. For example, the issue of complaints and discipline was dealt with by the solicitors under the Solicitors Act, and they have built up decades of experience in that regard. To now move it into an independent statutory body like the legal services regulatory authority requires hugely detailed knowledge of how it was being dealt with to date.

Huge care has been taken to deal with all of these issues because they are very important. How the courts and the law operate, and how the professions of the Bar and solicitors operate, are critically important in our democracy. That is what we are dealing with in the Bill. I appreciate there are a lot of amendments but, as we go through them, I will point out where there is any policy change, with the big issue being in regard to the pre-action protocols. I gave a lot of detail on Committee Stage. The amendments I am bringing in are mostly technical as a result of insertions.