John Molyneaux, partner at PG McMahon Solicitors said: “We are delighted to welcome Gráinne Linnane from Tralee as our new trainee solicitor.

“Gráinne is the first trainee to join our office since 1998—a significant milestone for the firm. After moving to our larger Bishop Street premises almost three years ago, we are delighted to have created the opportunity to support the start of a new legal career.”

Mr Molyneaux added in a post on LinkedIn that regional practices can often find it “extremely challenging” to recruit young solicitors and trainees as while many would like to remain closer to home they feel they have little choice, but to move to Dublin to secure a traineeship.

This was borne out in the Law Society of Ireland’s Snapshot of the Solicitor’s profession, released earlier this year, which revealed that 82 per cent of new training contracts were in Dublin.

The Legal Services Regulatory Authority has also warned of future shortages of solicitors in rural counties as an aging cohort finds 65 per cent of solo practitioners over 50 years of age.

Mr Molyneax added: “Many solicitors in regional practices are approaching retirement. Unless firms continue to train and encourage the next generation, we risk seeing more local practices disappear over time while larger city firms continue to grow and consolidate.”