Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. Under the new Bill, somebody applying for free legal aid may be asked to contribute towards the cost of his or her defence if the Legal Aid Board decides he or she can afford it but too many of the repeat offenders I am talking about will be well capable of hiding their ill-gotten gains.

I would like to see the Bill requiring those persistent criminals with a certain number of convictions behind them to repay the costs of their defence over time, be it from wages or future social welfare payments. The principle of deducting a portion of social welfare payments is already established in the case of overpayments with up to 15% taken from the personal weekly rate until the money is paid back. This should also be done for the defence costs of serial offenders. The taxpayer should no longer have to suffer the indignity of paying out hard-earned money for free legal aid. The laws governing the provision of free legal aid to persistent offenders simply have to change and change radically.

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