Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I am in receipt of the same representations in regard to this amendment. The amended version and the existing wording in the Act are identical except for the following "or may accept a lower contribution." in the existing subsection. The amended version is split into two paragraphs and ends with, "or accept a lower contribution, on the ground that a failure to do so would cause severe hardship to the applicant." The proposed change would result in narrowing the circumstances where contributions can be waived or reduced.

The representation which was received by Deputy Flanagan and which was passed on to me states:

To understand the potential significance of this proposed amendment, some background might be useful. As part of its work, Free Legal Advice Centres campaign for improved civil legal aid services in Ireland. This involves speaking to people whose application for legal services has been refused and where such refusal results in an unmet legal need, potentially appealing that refusal on the applicant's behalf.

In one such appeal in 2007 where an applicant on low earnings had been refused legal aid because she exceeded the means test ever so slightly, one of two arguments advanced on her behalf [by the Free Legal Advice Centres] was that the board had the general power under section 29(2) of the Act above to grant legal aid without regard to a person's financial resources where it would be appropriate to do so.

This appeal did not succeed but the board was very slow to give grounds for the failure of the appeal on this ground and FLAC knows that it sought legal opinion on the question. In any case, for a variety of reasons, that appeal is now the subject of judicial review proceedings in the High Court.

The issue is before the court and I am interested in the Minister's response. It is stated here that Deputy Charles Flanagan said this is a new amendment about which there does not appear to have been any discussion on Committee Stage. As I was not present for Committee Stage, I cannot say whether that is the case. The Minister is clear on the issues and I look forward to his response.

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