Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 63: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on the final report of the Competition Authority; if he will implement the recommendations contained in the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6845/07]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I understand that the Deputy is referring to the Competition Authority report on Competition in Legal Services — Solicitors and Barristers, which was published on 11 December 2006. The Report makes twenty-nine recommendations, the key ones being that:

the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform should bring forward legislation to establish a Legal Services Commission, which would regulate both solicitors and barristers and the market for legal services. The Head of the Commission and majority of members should be non-lawyers

the Legal Services Commission would have responsibility for the regulation of the legal services but would delegate many regulatory functions to other/existing bodies. The Commission would have statutory powers to make new regulations and to veto the rules of self-regulatory bodies

the Legal Services Commission should be given the role by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to set standards for the provision of professional education for solicitors and barristers. The Law Society and the King's Inns, in common with other providers, should be required to apply and meet these requirements. The Law Society and the Bar Council should set out detailed criteria pursuant to which they would licence institutions to provide courses

both the Law Society and Bar Council should provide accessible information for consumers on their rights and main features of legal services

unlimited direct access to barristers for legal advice should be allowed by the Bar Council

legislation should be brought forward to permit licensed conveyancers other than solicitors to provide conveyancing services. Such conveyancers should be required to register by a Conveyancers' Council of Ireland with responsibility for the training, qualification and operation of conveyancers.

I have in the past acknowledged that the legal professions are open to claims that there are restrictive practices within each profession and between them. Indeed such claims are also regularly made against professional services, such as medicine, accountancy and others. While I believe in self regulation, I am also of the belief that self regulation must deliver the highest standards of professional integrity for the protection of clients. A critical factor to be considered in response to calls for deregulation is whether the resultant system is likely to deliver a fairer, more accessible, more economic and higher quality service to the citizen and to Irish society as a whole. Given their crucial roles in society, this factor is particularly relevant to the legal professions and the recommendations of the Competition Authority require careful and detailed consideration by the Government in consultation with both branches of the legal profession, other interested organisations and the public.

I should point out that both the Law Society and Bar Council have on several recent occasions indicated their willingness to take measures to improve the services which they offer to the public. The Law Society established a Regulatory Review Task Force to examine the procedures and systems by which the Society regulates its members and interacts with the public. The Task Force, chaired by Joe Brosnan, a former Secretary General, carried out a thorough review and made fifty-six recommendations, all of which were accepted by the Council of the Law Society. Examples of other measures are the setting up in September 2006 of a second training school in Cork for solicitors by the Law Society and the introduction in March 2006 of reforms by the Bar Council to update its code of conduct. The Bar Council have also improved their work practices, allowed for advertising, allowed for free transfer between the two professions and provided for cost-sharing amongst barristers. I welcome these measures which I consider to be very positive steps in embracing change rather than opposing it.

The Government considered it appropriate to proceed in advance of the Competition Authority Report by taking advantage of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006 to provide for establishment of a Legal Services Ombudsman to

provide a form of review for customers of legal services who are dissatisfied with the outcome of a complaint made to the Law Society or Bar Council.

oversee the complaints procedures of the Law Society and Bar Council by examining a selection of complaints files each year taken on a random basis.

oversee admission to the legal professions, particularly with regard to the adequacy of numbers admitted.

The Bill also gives effect to certain recommendations of the Brosnan Report that required statutory backing (including increasing the lay membership of Regulatory Committees). The Bill is awaiting Committee Stage in the House.

The wider issue of legal costs is being addressed through implementation of the Report of the Haran Working Group on Legal Costs.The Haran Report, published in November 2005, made recommendations for far reaching changes in the area of legal costs spanning operational, policy and legislative areas. As a great deal of preliminary work would be required prior to implementation an Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) was established to

advise on the timely implementation of the recommendations of the Legal Costs Working Group, with particular reference to the establishment on an interim basis of the proposed legal costs regulatory and assessment structure, and

consult with interested bodies in relation to the recommendations contained in the Report.

I have recently received the recommendations of the IAG and I will be making a further announcement in this regard in the near future.

The new measures that I am taking in the form of an Ombudsman and on legal costs will transform the provision of legal services. Taken with important initiatives already put in place to tackle the so-called compensation culture in the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 and the establishment of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, the legal system is changing rapidly. Our society is becoming more complex in tandem with our increasing prosperity. The legal system has a key function in oiling the wheels of progress and the legal professions must continue to adapt. I am sure that the package of measures taken already and those on the way will equip the legal system and the two legal professions to react to the changing needs of a mature and progressing modern economy.

Government policy in this area will continue to be determined on the basis of the need for improvement in the cost, efficiency and quality of the services of the legal profession.