Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

We will not know until the Bill is implemented but criminal legal aid has risen exponentially over the past number of years. It is a demand-led scheme and the Bill will put in place checks and balances relating to the granting of it under the Constitution. There is case law relating to it showing clearly that if a person coming before the courts does not have proper means, he or she will be entitled to representations. That was confirmed recently in the Carmody case. This will legislate for scenarios like the Carmody case and also put in place new systems, including one I proposed to my officials. I understood it was not the practice of the existing criminal legal aid system for a defendant to be asked to produce a PPS number but that will be a requirement under new legislation. That is one small changes but there are other major changes to bring it under the remit of the Legal Aid Board, which is willing to take on this work in order to have better administration of the overall scheme.

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