Dr. Conor O'Mahony:

It should be said that the issues dealt with by the Legal Aid Board are disproportionately on the side of custody and access. The board prioritises child protection cases in which the State seeks to take a child into care because of their nature. If the State comes in with its legal representatives and seeks an application for a care order, the judge will not want to proceed unless there is a solicitor for the parent. Because these cases often involve neglect or abuse, those applications cannot wait. The Legal Aid Board's resources tend to be sucked up in ensuring that people in cases involving applications for care orders have representation. The private cases end up having to wait. The impact on private cases, as has already been mentioned, may also result in parents not seeing their children.