THE BILL setting up a legal services ombudsman should be enacted early in the new year, according to Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
Mr Ahern told the Law Society yesterday the Bill would start its committee stage in the Dáil tomorrow. He was speaking at the opening of the society's new office, which houses its regulation section.
Mr Ahern said the fact that the society was moving this section from its headquarters in Blackhall Place to the new building at George's Place "reflects, in a very transparent way, the strategic and necessary separation of the regulatory and representative functions of the society."
He said the Government's proposals for independent review of the operation of the professions' complaints systems by way of a legal services ombudsman were consistent with the need for improved regulation.
"The establishment of the legal services ombudsman as an extra supervisory layer will provide independent scrutiny to assure the public of the effectiveness and trustworthiness of the complaints process as a whole," he said.
He pointed out that the new ombudsman would replace the society's independent adjudicator and oversee the handling of complaints by the society and the Bar Council. It would also keep under review the admission policies of the legal professions.
The society's president John Shaw said the cost of regulating the profession was borne by its members through their practising certificates. The society's director general Ken Murphy said 59 people had moved into the new building, including chartered accountants and solicitors.
He told The Irish Timesthat they were engaged in issuing practising certificates and ensuring all solicitors had professional indemnity insurance; dealing with complaints, which were resolved or passed on to the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal; investigating solicitors' accounts to ensure they complied with the law and that clients' money was protected; practice closure when this was required and processing cases against solicitors.