The director general of the Law Society, Ken Murphy, has declined to comment publicly after the chairman of one of the State's leading solicitor firms strongly criticised comments attributed to him last weekend.

Instead, he said he intends to raise the matter directly with Eugene McCague, chairman of Arthur Cox solicitors.

In a letter which appeared in yesterday's Irish Times, Mr McCague expressed his "utter dismay" at Mr Murphy's comments, which were reproduced in the Sunday Times.

These were to the effect that Mr Murphy found it "surprising, to say the least", that "banks chose to accept an undertaking and certificate of title from a solicitor acting on his own behalf," Mr McCague wrote.

"As a practising solicitor for more than 25 years, I am astounded that the Law Society would suggest that solicitors can be trusted when acting for third parties but that when acting for themselves, you better watch out," he said.

Mr Murphy last night declined to comment on the specific issues raised by Mr McCague.

However, he said there were a "number of things" contained in the letter which he would "take issue with," before declining to expand on this further.

"Eugene and I have known each other for many years and I will raise these matters with him directly," he said.

Mr McCague also said he was "equally astounded that the sanction for a solicitor with a significant deficit in his client account is not, as I would have assumed,that the High Court be asked to strike him from the register, but rather the imposition of a paltry fine.

"It is extremely regrettable that, as with other professions, a tiny minority of solicitors are crooks. Any attempt to apportion any blame to anyone else for their contemptible behaviour is reprehensible," he continued.

"There are enough people questioning whether the Law Society can continue to act as a representative body and as a regulator without the society itself so eloquently making the case for them."