Ms Nuala Egan:

Regarding the comparison between the criminal legal aid scheme and the payment structure relating to the Office of the DPP, I totally agree with the Senator. Our clients are often very vulnerable people who come to us for a variety of services. As I said, we only provide services in respect of civil legal aid matters. We are not involved in the criminal legal aid process. Be that as it may, it does not detract from the very valid statement that there is a very real vulnerability among our clients. The differential in the context of pay is a matter of huge concern.

Our service is as good as the staff that we have. We have extremely dedicated people, who have made a decision to commit to providing a public service. There is an acceptance to some extent that a lower fee is paid than would be paid in the private sector. If our fee structure were aligned with those of the Office of the DPP and the Office of the Chief State Solicitor, we could devise a career path in the context of public sector in order that people could at times work in the other offices to the betterment of all of our clients and the overall service. We regard that as being of fundamental importance. I hope that answers the Senator’s question.

In terms of the digital issues, the Senator mentioned morale. Again, there is a sense of obligation to the staff in the law centres. Our ICT service is such that it can impact the morale of our staff. It takes a long time to simply get into our system every day and it delays us in the work when we are already overworked. There is all of that, and I am sure the Senator has a sense of the reality of the situation. We would like to have an improved system of case management, which we fundamentally need. We need a system that is consistent with the ICT system that the Courts Service has just installed in order that we can have coherent interaction with it.

The Senator's point about data is extremely valid, as is her point about the impact of legislation on us. The Family Courts Bill is currently before the Oireachtas. While it is not our concern to comment on politics or policy, if the divorce jurisdiction is moved from the Circuit Court to the District Court, that will have a fundamental impact on us. We have no problem with the change, but we ask that we are provided with the resources to deal with the challenges that it will present. We make representations when legislative changes are coming down the line in regard to the impact on our budgets. If we had a better system by means of which we could make such representations, however, it would definitely be of assistance to us.

The Senator's next point related to support staff. We have an excellent support staff structure and we rely on those staff in many areas. The Senator mentioned family mediation. We are the designated lead under goal 4 of the State’s family justice strategy. Our obligation is to promote the use of alternative dispute resolution and mediation is the core of family dispute resolution in the context of the family justice strategy. We are trying to lead in regard to the training of personnel to become mediators and expanding their understanding of it. It is about making people understand that keeping children who are already traumatised by the situation in their family out of the courtroom, keeping their story out of the courtroom and having matters resolved in a mediated process is for the betterment of those children and their future, and the betterment of their parents. We are committed to promoting mediation as much as we can. It is our obligation under goal 4 of the family justice strategy, and that task has been assigned to us. Since 2011, the provision of mediation services has been one of our obligations. We are really taking to it and promoting it at the moment.