Legal aid system faces 'collapse' without investment, chair of Oireachtas committee warns

Matt Carthy was speaking as solicitors participating in the scheme warned they may resign from the panel en masse

The Oireachtas justice committee chair said: 'The level of reform required... is not achievable without immediate and adequate funding being made available for the Legal Aid Board...' Picture: iStock

The civil legal aid system faces “collapse” without immediate investment and wider reforms, the Oireachtas justice committee has warned.

Committee chair Matt Carthy has warned that the level of reform required to the civil legal aid system would not be possible without “immediate and adequate" funding being provided to the Legal Aid Board.

The committee’s report comes a year on from the first ever review of Ireland’s civil legal aid scheme, which called for a new support system to be introduced alongside a litany of other reforms.

However, two members of the 11-person expert panel disagreed and produced a minority report. This minority report suggested that the recommendations did not go far enough and that those earning either the minimum wage or a living wage would be ineligible for civil legal aid.

In particular, the report said there should be an “immediate review” into the capacity of the Legal Aid Board to administer the current Civil Legal Aid scheme, taking into consideration the salaries of solicitors, private practitioner fees, counsel fees and fees paid to experts.

Committee chairman, Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy, was critical of the current system and called for immediate Government action.

“The level of reform required in this area is not achievable without immediate and adequate funding being made available for the Legal Aid Board and a significant increase in resource provision,” Mr Carthy said, writing in the report.

Additional responsibilities 

“There are explicit warnings that the system could collapse without investment that addresses already existing issues and provides greater capacity to deal with additional responsibilities, particularly those imposed under the incoming EU Asylum & Migration Pact.”

Mr Carthy said the existing system locks people out because of outdated income thresholds, which have not been updated since 2006.

The report itself calls for more “generous thresholds” to ensure people can gain effective access to justice, alongside a recommendation to review allowable allowances such as childcare, accommodation, cost-of-disability, and transport.

“In addition, low rates of pay for private law practitioners carrying out legal aid work are making retention difficult and are also creating challenges in certain parts of the country and creating legal deserts where vulnerable people, including victims of domestic violence, struggle to secure representation,” Mr Carthy said.

The report calls for eligibility thresholds to be indexed and subject to a review every three years, and should consider several issues like inflation, the cost-of-living and relativity to the minimum wage.

The committee has also recommended an impact assessment be carried out into the EU Migration and Asylum Pact, adding that further resources be provided to the Legal Aid Board to respond to increased cases involving asylum seekers.

There are calls in the report to ensure there is “careful oversight” over the use of AI in civil legal aid, particularly surrounding the migration pact. It states this is due to the risk that AI could be used to “level down the services provided to those applicants”.

In calling for further resources for the Legal Aid Board, the committee particularly highlights the need to address “staffing issues” like retention and recruitment.

The committee has also recommended that rates of pay for Legal Aid Board solicitors are amended to parity with other lawyers employed within the civil service, such as the Chief State Solicitors Office or Director of Public Prosecutions.

• Tadgh McNally, Political Reporter