I think it is fitting during a discussion on the Estimate for the Department of Justice that we should make passing reference to the father of this House, Deputy Everett, as he, for some years, held the portfolio of Justice and any members who appreciate the value of Parliamentary democracy, appreciate the sterling services he has given to the nation. Apart from serving his Party and his constituency, he has served the Irish people well over many years and during that long and honourable service he spent a number of years in the Department of Justice. During his time in that Department, he brought about many laudable reforms.
On the last occasion when I reported progress, the Minister was saved by the bell. I had been drawing attention to the fact that, unfortunately, there existed in the Department, in the Garda Síochána and in the law enforcement department of this State, a virtual reign of terror in which the heads of the Departments have created an atmosphere of fear among the rank and file. You do not get the best out of any servants, public or private, where there is an atmosphere of dictation, fear, intimidation and a bad spirit generally. That, unfortunately, is the situation. In the whole history of the State, I think, the legal arm has never been so bedevilled with fear and intimidation that should be absent from the organ of State which is there to see that justice is done. I hope there will be a substantial improvement and that the reign of terror will give way to a reign of co-operation.
Recently I asked the Minister if he would consider the introduction of a system whereby solicitors on record in court cases would be notified direct from the court offices as soon as the cases in which they are concerned are put in the list. The Minister said he was satisfied that the system of the Legal Diary which has been operating for many years was adequate and that there was no need to supplement it by direct notice to solicitors on record. I appeal to him to reconsider the matter. Members of the House, who are not members of the legal profession, may not know of the Legal Diary. It is a document which is printed daily in Dublin during the law terms and it contains, on average, 400 cases listed according to the courts in which they are to be heard. I know for a fact that not infrequently solicitors, or counsel advised by them, fail to notice cases which are put into the Legal Diary and not infrequently adjournments are sought on the eve of a court case or on the very day of the court case because, due to pressure of work, solicitors and counsel have not noticed the case come into the list.
I have heard lawyers accused of negligence for failing to know when cases appear on the list but I ask members of the House as human beings to realise the problem that lawyers have to face. They may take the steps necessary to bring a case for trial in the circuit court or high court and four or five months may elapse before that case appears in the Legal Diary. In order to ensure that the case is not overlooked, the lawyer on record is supposed to apply his mind and eye daily to that list to watch out for the case. I wonder if each of us were put on oath to say what Statutory Instruments or Orders or other items appeared on the back of our Order Papers, how many of us could honestly say we read through those from beginning to end? Yet, if we were fulfilling our duties here as members of the House, we should do that to know everything that is going on. Likewise, the average lawyer has more than sufficient to do to try to keep up-to-date with urgent work, without having laboriously to pore over a list of 400 cases daily of which he may have an interest in only one or two or three.
The pressure and the strain in the practice of the legal profession is daily becoming worse and with the shorter working week which is being generally introduced it will become even more acute in the years ahead. At the same time, it is becoming more difficult to get experienced, competent law clerks. There was a time when law clerks were regarded as the poorest-paid members of the community, and I think that was true, certainly in relation to the responsibility they had. The result of that is a new trend and young men will not go into the law clerk's avocation.
It is a common experience of solicitors, I think, that unless they personally peruse the Legal Diary cases are frequently overlooked. Even though they might try to go through it they themselves have often overlooked some very important case.
Even though it might mean that the Minister would look to the profession to pay a contribution towards the service, I believe that most members of the profession in Dublin would willingly provide the necessary funds to ensure that in future when a case is put into the Legal Diary a notice to that effect would go out from the court office to the solicitor on record. I should explain, perhaps, that not only is a case put in the Diary for a particular day but once it is listed in the Diary, it may move according as cases before it are adjourned or settled or otherwise disposed of. But, at least if a solicitor gets a warning that the case is listed, he is alerted and he can watch the Diary and from then on, it would be his own responsibility.
I think there is a case for giving initial notice to solicitors on record. This is not a matter just for the convenience of solicitors: it is equally important to all the parties and witnesses involved in court cases, in order to ensure they will get the fullest possible notice. It might be that the system operating is more suited to a time when there was less litigation in this city and county, but it certainly is not suited to this day and age and the result is that witnesses and litigants get only a matter of a few days' notice, whereas, if my proposal were adopted, they would get ten to 14 days' notice.
I should like to refer again to the Gardaí on traffic duty in this city. I said last week that since they became armed with batons, their signs are becoming less intelligible to motorists and pedestrians. I discovered last Saturday to my surprise that one member of the Garda Síochána who, I had thought, was a particularly bad pointsman was a first-class pointsman when he had not got a baton. I did not recognise him as one and the same man. Last Saturday, when for some reason or another he had not the baton, he had his arms outstretched to the full and was giving indications in accordance with the bye-laws and regulations and there could be no room for any doubt as to what he meant.
I have seen the same person before and since giving indications with the baton which were certainly not intelligible to the average motorist. I would therefore appeal either for the immediate permanent withdrawal of the batons or else that Gardaí on traffic duty should get an intensive course in their proper use for traffic control. The batons should supplement the other gestures and signs and not replace them. Unfortunately what is happening is that the baton is solely used.
I do not blame the men on point duty. Obviously, this wand is having some effect on them, but it has occurred to me that perhaps the period they have to remain on traffic duty is too long. It might be better to have shorter runs of duty. It might have been all right when our streets had only a quarter of the traffic they now have, but it takes a high degree of alertness now to get traffic moving and that should be the purpose of our pointsmen. I am afraid some of them are so tired and so indifferent from long hours of duty that they tend to choke traffic rather than keep it moving. There should not be a delay of more than five seconds between the passing of traffic one way and the passing of traffic at right angles to it. Long delays in the movement of traffic lanes are not good enough in this day and age when our streets are becoming choked with traffic. I would hope for a vast improvement in that field in the immediate future.
I appreciate that we are not permitted to discuss legislation on the Estimate but I should like to express some appreciation of the increasing amount of law reform that is coming from the Department of Justice. I would urge that the legislation which we are told is under consideration in connection with the wills of husbands be not too long delayed because unfortunately, under our present system, there are frequent cases of wives and their families being deprived of their fair share of the husbands' estate because the husbands did not provide for them in their wills. While on that matter it strikes me that the time has come to increase the amount which a district justice can allow to a wife and children who have been deserted by the husband. I am not sure when the figure was reviewed but certainly the figure of £2 10s. a week fixed in respect of a wife has no relation to modern monetary requirements.
A final point I would make is to endorse what Deputy Donegan said about the provision of some funds for boys' and girls' clubs. We need a positive approach in this country to the prevention of crime. I do appreciate the great work which has been done in the treatment of young boys in what used to be called Borstal, but is now recognised as St. Patrick's. Positive work is being done there to reform these boys and make good citizens of them but I think we need to prevent our youth drifting into ways of crime.
The high precentage of young people in our prisons today is rather shocking and disturbing. The way to cut down on that is to encourage youth movements, boys' and girls' clubs. I know the Department of Education have done something but I do not think their work is sufficient in that field. There are many youth clubs and organisations in this city struggling to keep going and it would be a very sensible step if the State were to give a substantial contribution to these clubs. I believe that, in the long run, it would save money because it would reduce the number of juveniles who appear before our courts and who are ultimately imprisoned. It would also help, of course, to reduce the amount of malicious damage, theft and burglary. While I may be a severe critic of the Minister, I do feel he has a progressive approach to such matters and I would suggest that he endeavour to get from the Minister for Finance the necessary money for more positive steps towards the prevention of juvenile crime.