The Government and Opposition parties have welcomed the Competition Authority report on legal services. However, lawyers' organisations have responded cautiously.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Martin, said the recommendations had "the capacity to introduce much-needed competition into an important sector of the economy and ensure that the legal profession is regulated in a pro-competitive manner".
The Minister said competition was as good for business as it was for the consumer and that all sides in the debate should bear this in mind during the consultation process on the report.
In a brief statement the Law Society said it received copies of the report only at 4.15 p.m. yesterday and that it would be studied carefully before any comment was made.
The Bar Council welcomed the authority's recognition of the importance of an independent referral bar.
However, its president, Mr Hugh Mohan SC, went on to express disappointment that the report then made proposals that would undermine it, notably to allow barristers to work in solicitors' firms.
He said the report appeared to underestimate the importance of an independent bar, whose first duty was to the administration of justice. There could be a conflict between an employed barrister's duty to the court and his duty to his employer, he said.
However, he stressed that the Bar Council wanted to actively engage with the authority in bringing about reform, supported the idea of direct access in non-contentious matters, and would favour ease of transfer between the solicitors' and barristers' professions. "Anything that is pro-consumer is a good thing.
"Any analysis of the market for legal services requires a balancing of the public interest in securing cost-effective legal services, against the need to retain public trust in the quality and integrity of such services."
Fine Gael spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment Mr Phil Hogan said the report was "so wide-ranging that, if acted upon, would revolutionise the legal profession, demolish many barriers to fair competition and without doubt widen choice and give better value to the consumers who spend over €1 billion per year on this sector".
He said it was vital that vested interests were not allowed to leave the report to gather dust.
The Labour Party spokesman on enterprise and employment, Mr Brendan Howlin, supported the calls for reform of the legal profession.
He welcomed the proposal for the establishment of a new independent regulator for the sector.
However, Mr Howlin said the party saw "no reason or merit" for the lifting of the ban on advertising, which was designed "to bring an end to unscrupulous ambulance-chasing".
IBEC also welcomed the report and said there were three crucial recommendations for business contained in it. "The first is the recommendation allowing the customer/client direct access to barristers. The second is the provision of billing information by barristers in advance to the customer/client. The third is the removal of restrictions on partnerships between solicitors and barristers."
Mr Dermott Jewell of the Consumers' Association urged that the report be implemented swiftly.