Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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138. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the current position in regard to reform of the legal profession; the extent to which negotiation continues with respective interest groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5720/14]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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As I have previously stated, consultations in relation to the Legal Services Regulation Bill have been ongoing since its publication, both directly and by submission. Moreover, the Bill and key responses to it have previously been considered at Second Stage and in detail by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. Committee Stage of the Bill, which commenced last July, is now coming close to completion with the next session of that Stage scheduled for 12 February 2014.

During Committee Stage, I have continued to receive observations from bodies such as the Law Society, the Dublin Solicitors' Bar Association, the Bar Council and the Honorable Society of King's Inns, from whom I had also received earlier and substantial submissions in relation to this Bill and its key structural reforms. I also continue to receive submissions from other stake-holders who, like the legal professional bodies, have specific observations to make on the detail of the Bill as it progresses through Committee Stage. Direct and indirect contacts with stake-holders will, of course, continue to take place.

A wide range of stake-holders have therefore provided, and continue to submit, views on the Bill. This is something which I continue to encourage and am more than happy to take into consideration, including as the Bill progresses through its remaining Stages . Such views can continue to inform the development of the Legal Services Regulation Bill and will, as always, be considered against the Bill's modern balance of interests between those of the legal professions and those of private and other consumers who avail of legal services.