asked the Minister for Justice if his attention has been drawn to a newspaper report (details supplied) of a British proposal which would ensure the conveyancing of houses quickly and cheaply while still retaining all necessary safeguards; and if he will consider the adoption of a similar proposal in this country.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - House Conveyancing.
38.
The British proposal referred to in the report is not an official proposal but one that apparently has been submitted by an individual solicitor for the consideration of a recently established Royal Commission on Legal Services. No doubt the Commission's report in due course will be of interest to us though, of course, there are differences in the laws of the two countries.
In this country, the National Prices Commission in their Occasional Paper No. 22, "Solicitors' Remuneration in Ireland", published last December, recommended to the Minister for Industry and Commerce that the monopoly held by the legal profession on conveyancing should be referred to the Examiner of Restrictive Practices and Restrictive Practices Commission. I understand that the Minister for Industry and Commerce is examining this matter at present.
Does the Minister agree with the claim in the report that this work is mainly, if not entirely, done both in England and in this country by unqualified clerks and that it is quite possible for anybody capable of getting his own passport or taking out his own driving licence to do this work himself?
To speak of unqualified clerks is not to set the position accurately. They may be unqualified in the sense that they have not been admitted as solicitors but they would be qualified in knowledge to deal with conveyancing matters. There would be no analogy between examining the title and applying for the documents referred to by the Deputy. While the work of conveyancing may have been done by a clerk, it would be done under the supervision of a solicitor who would have experience of conveyancing work.
Does the Minister agree that it is quite possible for the ordinary individual to do this work himself? Does he now agree that it could effect a saving of between £150 and £250 in the conveyancing of a normally priced house at a time when every penny counts in the cost of a house?
I do not agree that the work could be done by an ordinary person because of the complexity of our title law. If an ordinary person were to attempt to investigate a title the resultant loss might be considerably more than the fee which would be paid to the legal people involved. In relation to the monopoly of the legal profession in conveyancing matters, this is under investigation by the Minister for Industry and Commerce with a view to referring it to the Examiner of Restrictive Practices as suggested by the National Prices Commission following a report into solicitors' remuneration, commissioned by the commission.
The remaining questions will appear on the Order Paper for the next sitting day of the Dáil.