Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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774. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding reform of the legal profession; the extent to which negotiations continue with respective interest groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46249/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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As stated in answer to the PQ No. 96 (45970/13) consultations in relation to the Legal Services Regulation Bill have been ongoing since its publication both directly and by submission. The Bill and key responses to it have also been considered in detail at Second Stage and by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality prior to the Bill's Committee Stage which commenced on 17 July.

Alongside those groups representing the legal professions with whom I have had both formal and informal direct meetings and from whom I have received a series of substantial submissions, I have had direct meetings with the Competition Authority, the Consumers' Association, the Honorable Society of King's Inns and the Committee of Heads of Irish University Law Schools and with the legal service regulators of other jurisdictions such as Australia and England and Wales. In terms of written submissions, I have, as previously disclosed to the House, received just under 50 since publication of the Bill representing nearly 30 interested parties, along with dozens of individual letters from concerned members of the public and practitioners and the formal observations of other Government Departments. For their part, the Law Society, the Bar Council and the King's Inns have provided substantive views on a number of occasions and on key issues which are among those to which consideration continues to be given. Submissions have come from a wide range of bodies in addition to the legal professional bodies including from associations, academics, civil liberties and human rights organisations, private businesses and government agencies or Departments. They range in their scope from that of the entire Bill to that of particular provisions or issues arising within it.

A wide range of stake-holders have therefore provided, and continue to submit, views on the Bill which I am more than happy to consider. These views continue to inform the development of the Bill and have to be considered against the Bill's modern balance of interests between those of the legal professions and those of business or private citizens who avail of legal services. The Deputy will appreciate the importance of the Government, in exercising its policy prerogative, maintaining this balance and conducting its consultations, direct or indirect, so as as to avoid any actual or perceived regulatory capture by any particular lobby or interest group. At this point in time, there are a large number of issues upon which the respective views of stake-holders have been clearly expressed or continue to be aired including in the public domain and in readily accessible formats on the internet. Direct and indirect contacts with stake-holders continue to take place at official level. Finally, as I have previously stated, amendments to the Bill and a Regulatory Impact Analysis will be made available for consideration prior to its forthcoming resumption of Committee Stage which is to take place as soon as possible in the current session.