John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he has had any further discussion with the Law Society regarding changes recommended by the Conveyancing Task Force on property transfers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55466/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Conveyancing Conflicts of Interest Regulation, to which the Deputy refers, was adopted by the Council of the Law Society on 7 September 2012, following the recommendations of the "Conveyancing Conflicts Task Force Report" published by the Law Society the previous July. Section 5 of the Solicitors Act 1954 provides for the Society to make regulations which are necessary for the carrying out of its functions and requires that such regulations be laid by the Society before each House of the Oireachtas. In compliance with this provision, the Conveyancing Conflicts of Interest Regulation was duly laid before the Houses on 2 October by way of S.I. No. 375/2012. Under current legislation, the Law Society is the independent statutory body for the regulation of the solicitors profession in the State. Section 5 of the Solicitors Act 1954, under which this Regulation has been introduced, does not provide for my concurrence, as Minister, in relation to this particular matter.

The Deputy will wish to be aware that, under the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011, which is due to commence Committee Stage in the new year, the regulatory regime of the legal professions is set to change. Under the Bill, responsibility for the regulation of both solicitors and barristers will pass to the new and independent Legal Services Regulatory Authority that is to be established for that purpose.