Finance Minister Brian Cowen told the Dáil recently that planned legislative changes to the Ombudsman's office, due to be published later this year, would not extend its remit to deal with solicitors and barristers.

Replying to a question from Labour TD Mary Upton, he said he did not "think it appropriate" to extend the Ombudsman's remit to include legal services, according to a report in Public Affairs Ireland.

Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly and her predecessor, Kevin Murphy, have both expressed a desire to see the Act extended to cover non-governmental bodies.

Last month's Competition Authority report called for greater independent oversight of the legal profession.

The authority proposed a new body, to be known as the Legal Services Commission, which would either regulate all lawyers directly, or oversee the work of the three professional bodies that currently regulate their own members.

Authority chairman John Fingleton said competition was "unjustifiably restricted by legislation, regulation and conventions that have built up over centuries".

In Britain, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer proposed a new legal regulator and plans to allow law firms and other professions to go into partnership.