Cash-strapped Legal Aid Board forced to divert funds

The Legal Aid Board was so cash-strapped last year it reallocated funds earmarked for the Abhaile Scheme which helps people who are insolvent and in mortgage arrears.

In correspondence sent to the Department of Justice last summer, the Legal Aid Board highlighted the reasons for its decision — later reversed after a public outcry — to restrict, to priority matters only, referrals to the family law panel of the Private Practitioner District Court Panel.

The decision raised fears of adding to already long waiting lists in sensitive family law cases.