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

The Bill provides for legal partnerships. That is the reality. The Bill also has a strong section providing that no professional body can take any action that would interfere with the setting up of a partnership and cannot do anything that would be considered to be an interference with the setting up of such a practice. There are 100 barristers operating outside of the Bar Council. There is also a provision in the Bill to provide that if a barrister is employed by a charity NGO, a homeless group or by any of the advocacy groups, that person can represent those bodies in court. All these are new provisions aimed at giving people opportunities to be involved in different ways. All that is in the Bill. I have mentioned the constitutional advice I received about the Bar Council.