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

Amendment No. 242, if accepted, would mean a patent of precedence would not be conferrable with the title of senior counsel on a solicitor. The purpose of the patents of precedence provision in the Bill is to codify the process of becoming a senior counsel while also making it amenable to legal practitioners, whether barrister or solicitor, who have the requisite excellence in advocacy, specialist knowledge or special litigation. The amendment is somewhat contradictory to what the Senator has been arguing. To remove solicitors from the provision would defeat the opening up of this area of legal excellence to a significant cohort of persons who may have met the required standard. Given that solicitors already have the right of audience before the courts and can become senior members of the Judiciary, that there are procedures for solicitors and barristers to switch professions, and that the two professions already work closely together, I am not sure why the Senator is proposing this deletion. It seems contrary to the points he has been making about the need for more flexibility in the system. It is incongruous with some of the other amendments the Senator has suggested. Maybe I am missing something in the points he is making. It is intended to open up the title of senior counsel to solicitors, and it is reflective of the changes and flexibilities that exist more and more between the two professions.