Taoiseach Enda Kenny has denied there is a rift in Cabinet over the contents of the new legal services Bill.
Mr Kenny said the Bill, which is due before Cabinet next Tuesday, will result in “the most fundamental changes” in legal services for more than 200 years.
Mr Kenny acknowledged there were different points of view on aspects of the proposed legislation and said this was “only right and proper. This is a very complex bill. It runs to 300 pages. There is no division here among anybody,” the Taoiseach said.
Mr Kenny said due to the scale and complexity of the Bill it may require some amendment.
“Depending on the quality and the creditworthiness of the observations made, the Minister for Justice and the Government will respond to that.”
reported earlier this week that the certain Labour Ministers in particular are concerned some of the proposals contained in the Bill concentrate too much power in the hands of the Minister for Justice and could compromise the independence of the legal profession. Some Fine Gael Ministers are also unhappy with the proposals.
Reform of legal services is one of the terms of the agreement with the EU-ECB-IMF.
The Memorandum of Understanding negotiated with the troika required the implementation of the outstanding recommendations of the Competition Authority 2006 report and the establishment of a regulatory body for the legal professions.
However, the proposed Heads of Bill prepared by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, which run to several hundred pages, are thought by some Labour Ministers, including Ruairí Quinn and Joan Burton, to go beyond the requirements of the EU-ECB-IMF and the Competition Authority.
The disquiet is focused on proposals to have the members of the regulatory body appointed by the Minister for Justice and thereby answerable to him, and to provide for multidisciplinary partnerships (MDPs) that would allow barristers and solicitors set up partnerships or practices with other professionals.
There are fears this would make lawyers primarily answerable to the clients of such partnerships and undermine their primary duty to uphold the law and tell the truth to the court, thus undermining the independence of the legal professions and ultimately the legal system.
