Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The issue about civil legal aid relates to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. There is a difficulty in that the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, have responsibility only for providing free legal aid in family law cases. There is no provision for legal aid in the case of people taking cases to bodies like the WRC. Last year, there was a significant increase in the number of people who sought legal aid, mainly because there were issues to do with redundancy and a range of other issues that arose in the context of Covid. The pandemic really exposed a weakness in the system. It is fine when somebody has union representation, for example, but there are occasions where people do not have that representation. In fact, the more precarious their employment, the less likely they are to be represented. There is a gap there that is not necessarily around the issue of Tusla and the nature of this particular complaint. There is a wider issue in regard to the WRC and the availability of free legal aid where people require it. There is no provision in that regard. Even if we make a submission citing this particular correspondence later in the year, it will not address the fundamental issue that people feel they are being hung out to dry when they have to pay for the legal assistance they require at a point when they are possibly out of a job.