Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has signalled the Government's intention to end self-regulation in the legal profession through the establishment of an independent legal commission to oversee the profession.
Mr Ahern was responding to a question in the Dáil from Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, asking if he agreed with the Competition Authority that an independent legal commission should be established. "The answer to those questions is yes," said Mr Ahern who added that the Government had examined the Competition Authority report and was examining models that might be put in place.
"I am not satisfied that self-regulation, as it has been operated over the years, is the best model. Total self-regulation does not provide the impression that the public interest is best served in a transparent way, notwithstanding the fact that the overwhelming majority are doing a good job." He said there was a range of models including the Accounting Standards Association which supervises accountants and was regulated by law.
"There is a lay majority on that body which works well on a professional and an individual level. It was recently established by law. There is not a huge difference between the accountancy and the legal professions. It was thought necessary to establish such a body for the accountancy sector and that model is working," Mr Ahern said.
"The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is examining the position, however. Generally speaking, self-regulation is not now seen as a great idea internationally. In all its reports, the Competition Authority indicated that the concept of self-regulation is not the way of the future." Mr Ahern said that the position of other professional bodies was relevant.
"A number of years ago, the accountancy profession moved to a different administrative system whereby a body was established to examine the profession, and that is working well. While I do not want to suggest the Government has made a decision, because we have not and the matter is under examination, the accountancy profession is an area in which such a system has worked very satisfactorily."
The Taoiseach was responding to questions from Mr Kenny who said the credibility of the legal profession had been diminished by the activities of a number of high profile lawyers which were proceeding through the courts.
"One of the features of concern to me is that the information on some of these cases was brought to the attention of the Law Society as long ago as 2002. In that context, the matter of self-regulation is called into question," said Mr Kenny.
Responding to the Taoiseach's remarks, the director general of the Law Society, Ken Murphy, said: "The Law Society fully agrees with the Taoiseach that self-regulation of solicitors should be a thing of the past.
"In fact it is, given the all-pervasive external supervision and control of the regulation system by independent people including the president of the High Court, the Minister for Justice, the independent adjudicator and the non-lawyer nominees of Ibec, Ictu and the Director of Consumer Affairs.
"Any system can be improved, however, and we welcome the fact that draft legislation is before the Oireachtas to further increase in the public interest the independence, transparency and accountability of the system," Mr Murphy said.