Row flares over amendments to Legal Services Regulation Bill

The latest amendments to the troubled Legal Services Regulation Bill have opened a political row that could prevent the legislation being enacted before Christmas.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald yesterday presented the Cabinet with a series of amendments that allow the Bar Council of Ireland and Law Society of Ireland to retain major powers while still pushing ahead with the establishment of a new Legal Services Regulatory Authority.

The amendments are due to be tabled tomorrow at the start of the bill’s committee stage debate in Seanad Éireann.

However, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has described the amendments as “a major disappointment”, The Irish Times reports.

It has complained that the Department of Justice did not engage with it on the bill and alleged the “views of the Law Society and the Bar Council have been privileged over those of the consumers of legal services - the clients of the legal profession”.

Meanwhile, the office of Attorney General Máire Whelan has said a “number of fundamental policy matters still remain to be finalised” before the bill can be passed.

A submission by the office has said the amendments are “likely to be the subject of intense legal scrutiny once operational, and to give rise to legislation”.

It adds: “It would be necessary for this office to examine the proposals for amendments to ensure that they are constitutionally and legally sound.”

The Department of Justice told The Irish Times that the amended bill would represent “a pragmatic approach” to legal regulation.