Doubts at legal system reform

Doubts over whether the proposed Government reform of the legal system will ever be realised have intensified after the European Commission failed this week to address the issue when it made a number of other recommendations, involving cutting health costs, and tackling unemployment and mortgages.

The legal reform plan agreed with the EU-IMF troika, and later driven by then justice minister Alan Shatter, aimed to cut the cost of the courts system and reduce lawyers’ fees.

The long-delayed Legal Services Bill, introduced in 2011, outlines the biggest changes to the legal system in the history of the State.