Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I will assist the House as much as I can. I have not had the opportunity of examining the representation referred to by the Deputies. It is worth examining the current provision, which is that the board may provide legal aid or advice to an applicant without reference to his or her financial resources and may waive any contribution payable pursuant to this section. The regulations of 1996 reflect the understanding of the board that the waiver can arise only where the minimum fee is payable. This means where the board has decided to provide legal aid or advice without reference to the person's financial resources, because of the presence of the word "and" in the current section 29, the board can make the waiver only when the applicant already meets the requirement of having obtained legal aid without his or her financial resources. The amendment proposes that the board be given additional latitude so that it may give a person legal aid or advice without reference to his or her financial resources, waive a contribution payable under this section or accept a lower contribution. We are widening the latitude available to the board under this subsection and that is the motivation behind this amendment. The board's understanding and its regulations of the existing provision is that it limits the circumstances where waiver can take place to those circumstances where only the minimum fee was payable.

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