Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ar an gcéad dul síos, I reject any assessment that as rural Independents or any other group, we are anti-democratic. We are not. We are elected by the people, democratic and entitled to do what we want to do.

The programme for Government commits to a review of the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962 and the preparation of amendments to it. Where is this legislation? I understand from replies to parliamentary questions that Fine Gael-led Governments from 2011 to 2016 spent €606 million on free legal aid. Where will this bonanza for lawyers stop? I mean no disrespect to any lawyers in the House. We saw recently that a person who had appeared before the courts 102 times got free legal aid. This is a farce and must be regulated. Where is this Bill? When will we stop this gravy train and farce for the unfortunate victims of crime? They get no say and their taxes pay for free legal aid.

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