Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 108: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality when he will publish his proposed amendments to the Legal Services Bill 2011; if a regulatory impact statement will be published with the amendments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22630/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The position in relation to proposed amendments to the Legal Services Regulation Bill remains as indicated in my closing statement for Second Stage of the Bill on 23 February 2012. In that statement I responded to a series of key issues that had arisen in the discussion of the Bill. At the same time I outlined my intentions in relation to those issues and the potential for constructive amendments to the Bill at Committee Stage. I also indicated that I would make my proposed amendments to the Bill available to Deputies sufficiently in advance of Committee Stage to facilitate their due consideration and this will be done in due course. On the 14th of April I delivered a statement on the Bill and its programme of reform at the annual conference of the Law Society of Ireland which again outlined the scope of the amendments to the Bill that are under consideration - the full text is available on the Department website, www.justice.ie, for ease of reference.

The situation in relation to a Regulatory Impact Analysis for the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011 also remains as stated at the closing of Second Stage. Although a preliminary Regulatory Impact Analysis had been in preparation for the Bill, because of the prescribed time-frame under the EU-IMF-ECB Programme, it did not prove possible to complete it for issue when the Bill was published. The development of that Regulatory Impact Analysis is further advanced and will continue against the backdrop of the amendments to the Bill that are being prepared for Committee Stage and the analysis will be made available to Members for timely consideration. Deputies will be aware that the relevant Guidelines specifically allow for a Regulatory Impact Analysis to follow a Bill in such exceptional circumstances as applied in this instance.

Work on the details of the proposed amendments to the Bill and on the Regulatory Impact Analysis is ongoing at my Department including in conjunction with the Offices of the Attorney General and of Parliamentary Counsel and they will, as I have explained, be made available in advance of Committee Stage. It remains my objective, notwithstanding the competing legislative demands of our EU/IMF/ECB Programme commitments, that Committee Stage of the Legal Services Regulation Bill commence before the summer recess.