There is an informative
article in today’s Irish Times regarding the Legal Aid system in Ireland
and the huge increase in demand which it has seen in the last number of years.
This is due in no small part to the increased number of people who require
legal services and who qualify for Legal Aid due to reduced income,
unemployment etc. When advising clients who are hard-pressed financially I must
always advise them of their entitlement to seek Legal Aid. However, I must also
advise them that in the Cork area
they will be waiting for approximately 8-10 months for an appointment to meet
with a Legal Aid solicitor.
There are very
few cases where such a wait is acceptable. While in certain emergency
situations a client will be assigned a solicitor immediately (domestic violence
applications or childcare proceedings for example), usually the first meeting
with the solicitor will be at the Court. This places additional worry and
stress on a client who is already in the midst of a very stressful situation.
Without a doubt
the Legal Aid Board, as with all other State agencies, are under huge financial
and budgetary constraints, and in fairness they do give the very best service
that they can. They have now, at a time when they are under such pressure,
taken on the running of the family mediation service and are about to take on
the running of the criminal legal aid scheme as well. This can only serve to
place further pressures on an already over-burdened system.
There is a
scheme called the Private Practitioners Scheme which the Legal Aid Board run.
This allows, in certain circumstances, private solicitors like me to take on a
Legal Aid Board client. While the scheme is not without its limitations, it
does allow a client who qualifies for Legal Aid to access a solicitor in a
timely manner and to have their court case dealt with in much the same manner
as a private client. Again, due to budgetary constraints, access to this scheme
has been reduced in recent times. There are also certain types of cases to
which the scheme does not apply, e.g. childcare cases, and separation and divorce
proceedings which take place in the Circuit Court as opposed to the District
Court. It seems to me that an extension of the scheme, even if for a limited
time, would clear the enormous waiting lists which the Legal Aid Board has at
the moment and allow for the level of access to justice to which all citizens
are entitled.
Maria O’ Donovan
Wolfe & Co.
No comments:
Post a Comment