David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Senator and I said something similar recently. Amendment No. 135 states, "In page 41, in subsection (1)(a) of the section 72 inserted by amendment 82 at Committee Stage in the Seanad, to delete “a reprimand” and substitute “an advice”." It refers to the section which states:

Where, pursuant to the holding of an inquiry under section 71, the Disciplinary Tribunal makes a determination under section 71(9) that there has been misconduct on the part of a legal practitioner and determines that the issue of sanction should be dealt with pursuant to this subsection, the Disciplinary Tribunal may make an order imposing one or more of the following sanctions on the legal practitioner ...

The first option listed is "a reprimand". The amendment will remove this and substitute the term "an advice". What is an advice? It sounds like a very neutral and meaningless term to use. What does it mean to give an advice to somebody? Does one advise a person that he or she is behaving badly? A reprimand is clear. It means a person has done something wrong and is receiving a smack on the wrist.I do not understand why we need to take out the term "reprimand" and put in the term "an advice".

Further down, the reverse of that is included in subsection (c), where the term "caution" is to be removed and the term "essential" inserted. Something that is mild is to be removed and replaced with something that is fairly strong. It looks to me as if the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. Subsection (a) removes a lot of the point and neutralises it, but in subsection (c) the big guns are brought in.

I agree with Senator Ó Clochartaigh. I wish to God that somebody would give instruction in plain English. During the debate on the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill, I referred to a group of people with mental disabilities. They said one of the things they wanted was for legislation to be written in a way that they could understand. I am not sure it is completely beyond the wit of man to make things more comprehensible. Amendment No. 138 states, "[W]here the legal practitioner is a practising barrister, a direction to the chief executive of the Authority directing him or her to impose a specified restriction or condition on the legal practitioner in respect of his or her practice as a barrister." I am not quite sure what that means. Does that mean that the barrister cannot deal with particular kinds of cases? Does it mean that he or she can give advice but cannot appear in court? What are the restrictions and what do they consist of? What does the term "condition" mean? Does it mean a barrister can only do such and such if he or she had previously satisfied some requirements?

This is fairly vague. I do not know what a "specified restriction" is. It would be useful to have examples of them or a limited number to give us an idea of what is contemplated by the Bill. The same applies to the term "condition". I do not really follow what is meant by a condition. Obviously, the meaning of the word etymologically is that one can only do something if such and such applies or under certain circumstances. It is not at all clear what is intended. I would be very grateful if the Minister could elucidate.