Written Answers
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10 December 2013 Written Answers. The following are questions tabled by Members for written response and the ministerial replies as received on the day from the Departments [unrevised]. Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, answered orally. Questions Nos. 6 to 65, inclusive, resubmitted. Questions Nos. 66 to 73, inclusive, answered orally. 10/12/2013WRB00075Traveller Culture 10/12/2013WRB0010074. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Justice and Equality in view of the fact that the recognition of Traveller ethnicity has been repeatedly called for by the UN in order for Ireland to comply with its obligations under the ICCPR, when and how he intends to recognise Traveller ethnicity; the official steps or progression his Department has made over the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52666/13] 10/12/2013WRB00200Minister for Justice and Equality (Deputy Alan Shatter): I am aware of calls on the part of many Travellers, including a number of national Traveller movements, for recognition of Travellers as an ethnic minority but equally of the fact that this is not a universally shared view. I am also aware of calls for the Government to consider granting such status in the context of international conventions to which Ireland is a party. I have, against that background, previ- ously undertaken to give serious consideration to the issue. Travellers, of course, have the same civil and political rights as other citizens under the Constitution. Moreover, the key anti-discrimination measures, the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989, the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977, the Employment Equality Acts and the Equal Status Acts specifically identify Travellers by name as a group which are protected. The Equality Act 2004, which transposed the EU Racial Equality Directive, applied all the protec- tions of that Directive across all of the nine grounds contained in the legislation, including the Traveller community ground. All the protections afforded to ethnic minorities in EU directives apply to Travellers because the Irish legislation giving effect to those EU directives explicitly protects Travellers. The commitment I made to give the issue of recognising Travellers as an ethnic minority further consideration led to a Conference on the subject of Ethnicity and Travellers: An Explo- ration being convened by the National Traveller Monitoring and Advisory Committee with sup- port from my Department in September 2012. That Conference provided an opportunity for various aspects of the issue of ethnicity to be discussed and built on earlier discussions within the framework of National Traveller Monitoring and Advisory Committee on the issue. That 101 Questions - Written Answers Committee, as the Deputy will be aware, brings together all of the national Traveller organisa- tions as well as senior officials from relevant Government Departments including officials from my own Department. The report from that Conference now forms part of the ongoing consid- eration of the issue. My Department has in parallel been engaging with other Government Departments on the issue by way of the identifying any possible implications arising from the recognition of Travel- lers as an ethnic group. Those consultations are continuing and I expect them to be brought to a conclusion shortly. Those consultations will ensure that I have a full analysis of all aspects of granting of ethnic status to Travellers in framing any proposals on the matter that I may wish to bring to Government. 10/12/2013WRB00250Legal Services Regulation 10/12/2013WRB0030075. Deputy Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality his views on whether it is now time to ensure the Law Society of Ireland is mandated to improve its pro- cedures to deal with complaints against members for malpractice. [52655/13] 10/12/2013WRB0040083. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the steps he is tak- ing in view of concerns raised regarding compensation to victims following the conviction of a rogue solicitor (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52660/13] 10/12/2013WRB0050096. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Justice and Equality in view of recent high profile cases regarding legal malpractice, if he is satisfied that there are sufficient safe- guards and protocols in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52667/13] 10/12/2013WRB00600351. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the steps he is tak- ing in view of concerns raised regarding compensation to victims following the conviction of a rogue solicitor (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52680/13] 10/12/2013WRB00700Minister for Justice and Equality (Deputy Alan Shatter): I propose to take Questions Nos. 75, 83, 96 and 351 together. Under the Solicitors Acts 1954 to 2011 the Law Society is the designated authority respon- sible for the regulation of the solicitors’ profession in the State. As part of that function, par- ticularly under Part IV of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994 dealing with the ‘Protection of Clients’, the Law Society is obliged to continue to maintain and administer the Solicitors Com- pensation Fund. Where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Law Society that any client of a solicitor has sustained loss in consequence of fraud or dishonesty on the part of that solicitor or any clerk or servant of that solicitor arising from that solicitor’s practice as a solicitor within the jurisdiction of the State, then, subject to the relevant provisions, the Society is required to make a grant to that client out of the Compensation Fund. It is also provided that before a practising certificate can be issued to a solicitor, the solicitor in question must have paid the annual contri- bution to the Fund and the issuing of a practising certificate can be withheld until the payment has been made. As such, the Compensation Fund and its attendant inspection procedures under which, I am informed, around 400 inspections were carried out by the Law Society last year, provide an important protection against acts of fraud and dishonesty that may be perpetrated by solicitors in the handling of clients’ monies. As Deputies will be aware, the Fund has been relied upon in a number of high profile cases in recent times. In the five years of 2008 to 2012, I am advised the Fund paid out a total of €17.7 million in claims. The total in claims actually made for that same period was nearly €48 million. There was a 9% increase in the 266 claims made against the Compensation Fund in 2012 over the previous year’s 244 claims though this remains much less than the peak of 672 claims received in 2008. The net assets of the Solici- tors Compensation Fund were valued at €18 million as at 30th June 2013. In the six months 102 10 December 2013 up to that date 165 claims on the Fund were received which, excluding invalid claims refused, amounted to €1.16 million. The annual contribution to the Fund for 2013 is €760 per solicitor. Annual insurance cover for €50 million with an excess of €5 million is also in place. Under the Compensation Fund structures provided for under the Solicitors Acts, the Law Society is, therefore, able to respond immediately to serious financial complaints and has the right to carry out investigations, without notification, where justified by the circumstances. The Society can also apply to the High Court for orders to protect clients’ funds when serious irregularities arise. Pay-outs by the Compensation Fund have a serious impact, including in terms of ongoing costs, across its entire solicitor membership. To that extent, the Fund has a capacity to strongly incentivise financial compliance by solicitors in the public interest while simultaneously avoid- ing the imposition of an undesirable burden on the State or public resources. It should also be borne in mind that, following the enactment of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, the Law Society is required to investigate compliance with anti- laundering regulations. Against this background, I would consider it prohibitive for the State to assume the enormous and ongoing liabilities that may arise directly or indirectly from the acts of fraudulent solicitors or the operation of the Solicitors’ Compensation Fund. It would not be in the public interest to carry potential liabilities for solicitors’ fraud of tens of millions of euro that would, under such an arrangement, have to be paid indefinitely out of the public purse. However, while it is my considered view that the Law Society should retain responsibility for the Solicitors Compensation Fund, I am happy to report that, under the Legal Services Regu- lation Bill which is at Committee Stage, any matters of professional misconduct or discipline that may arise from cases of solicitors’ fraud or dishonesty are, in the future, to be dealt with independently under the aegis of the new Legal Services Regulatory Authority and the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Tribunal. 10/12/2013WRB00750Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission Remit 10/12/2013WRB0080076. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he is satisfied that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission has sufficient powers to investigate Garda mal- practice, in view of statements made by both the ombudsman commission and the Garda Com- missioner. [52653/13] 10/12/2013WRB00900Minister for Justice and Equality (Deputy Alan Shatter): The Garda Síochána Ombuds- man Commission was established under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 to provide independent oversight of complaints made against members of the Garda Síochána. The Garda Ombuds- man Commission has a hugely important role in ensuring that public confidence in the Garda Síochána is safeguarded, and has extensive powers under the 2005 Act to enable it to carry out its responsibilities.