Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the passage of this Bill because it will enable the establishment of the court of appeal which will help people access justice more quickly. When will the court sit and be in a position to hear cases? Will that happen in the autumn term after the courts’ summer recess?

We have been debating legal costs for several years in respect of the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2014. The costs had gone out of control and access to justice was a problem on two fronts, First, in gaining access to courts and second, the cost of legal services and representation is a barrier. One of the concerns that I and my colleague, Deputy MacLochlainn, articulated in the debate on the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2014, was that while there is a perception the Bill would deal with vested interests and legal costs for the public, that is not the case. There is nothing in the Bill which will force or drive costs down. The opposite is the case, particularly in the multidisciplinary practices. With that in mind, and given that the High Court goes on circuit outside Dublin, will the court of appeal also sit outside Dublin? If the court sits outside Dublin, where the main actors in the appeals and their legal representatives are based, it would lead to lower costs.

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