TD accuses lawyers of 'gross, wilful overcharging'

SOME MEMBERS of the legal profession are guilty of "gross, wilful overcharging'', Paul Connaughton (FG, Galway East) told the Dáil.

"Much of it never sees the light of day, although there has been a number of exposés about it on television,'' he added.

"It can arise over simple enough matters, such as ordinary insurance claims.''

Mr Connaughton added that there was no end to the amount of money that solicitors and barristers could make on the basis of charges to their clients and insurance companies.

"I have no doubt that there is no shortage of double-charging and that it is going on all the time,'' he added.

Mr Connaughton was speaking during the debate on the Legal Services Ombudsman Bill.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said that the Bill established a legal services ombudsman who would oversee the handling by the Law Society and the Bar Council of three classes of complaints: inadequate services, excessive fees and misconduct.

Labour justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte said he was concerned about the routine dereliction of duty by some solicitors.

"Constituents come into me with complaints that would be regarded as minor in this Bill, but they are big complaints from where they are standing,'' he added. "They cannot even get their files back from the solicitor. One would need a JCB to get a file back from a solicitor who is not diligently attending to it,'' he said.

"It is that routine dereliction of duty that concerns me as much as the few bad apples in the barrel that have recently gained such public notoriety.''

Mr Rabbitte said that an ordinary person with a minor claim, which had been negligently attended to, would not get anywhere with a complaint to the Law Society.

Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said it was important that individuals who had brought the legal profession into disrepute were subject to due process and held accountable for their actions. Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF, Dublin South Central) said that the measure was long overdue.

"Sinn Féin has long been of the opinion that the judiciary, not unlike the Garda, is not representative of Irish society.

"It has long been disproportionately made up of people from wealthy backgrounds. In the interests of justice, it is imperative that this situation be reversed."

Therefore, he added, it was crucial that the legal profession begin to include a fair representation of people from working-class backgrounds.

Michael D'Arcy (FG, Wexford) said that the language used by the legal profession was somewhat archaic.