Mr. Se?n Guerin:

We say that it should be a European convention-compliant process. Cases which are not necessarily seen as criminal actions in the Irish legal system but which attract Article 6 convention protections should all be provided for under a single statutory scheme. That would include the Proceeds of Crime Act, where a person might have limited resources. Very often, proceeds of crime, when they are found, are in possession of quite vulnerable people who do not actually own them but are holding them for others. Those people have rights as well. They need to be protected and have someone act for them in the course of those proceedings. There is obviously a second aspect to proceeds of crime, which is whether or not they can be considered in terms of a legal aid application. That is obviously a different issue. It is important to emphasise that solicitors and barristers cannot receive the proceeds of crime in payment for their services. The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act applies to us as well. There is no realistic possibility of a person who is in possession of proceeds of crime being able to apply those to get the benefit of legal services in this country. That just is not workable. We make the point in our written submission that the legal aid process should not be used as a sort of substitute for the proceeds of crime regime. There is a statutory scheme for recovery of proceeds of crime. If there is evidence available to justify the making of an application under the scheme, then the scheme should be availed of. You cannot use, or you certainly should not use, an application for legal aid in respect of a person who is facing serious criminal charges as a sort of a halfway house or a cheaper way, in a sense, of making a proceeds of crime application. They are very different things.