Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In that case, if proceedings involve other parties who have barristers and Barnardos cannot have its own in-house barrister under the current legal system, it will still have to hire one in and he or she will charge it whatever he or she wants to charge. Barnardos has very little control because there is a market rate. Its legal costs will still be quite high. In reality the salary of an in-house solicitor is also still quite high. Barnardos needs to address the legal qualifications its GALs possess to do their work. I do not see anything wrong with this. If Barnardos requires a person to be a qualified social worker and have five years' industry experience, why not train him or her to do court work? If his or her full-time job will be to operate in court and Barnardos wants him or her to retain the ability to cross-examine and make court applications, he or she is essentially performing a qualified legal role. Why not have him or her properly trained to do it? As a long-term plan, if Barnardos intends to be a service provider or compete for that role, it should think about this. It will not happen in a year's time, but it may happen in five or ten years and Barnardos will have properly qualified people to do the work.