Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

As the Minister said, the motion regarding the further Revised Estimates for public services, Vote 24, just relates to the transfer of functions to the Department of Justice. Had committees been established in a more timely manner, as they should have been, this motion would have been properly dealt with by the justice committee. Ach buíochas le Dia tá an coiste dlí agus cirt bunaithe anois agus ba mhór an onóir dom a bheith ceaptha mar Chathaoirleach. Bhí ár gcéad cruinniú againn inné agus táimid réidh le dul i mbun oibre.

On 1 May, responsibility for integration, international protection and Ukrainian accommodation transferred from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to the Department of Justice. I welcome this transfer. I hope it will improve accountability for migration issues. The Minister will agree that, for months, there was a sort of dichotomy where one Minister answered questions on migration-related issues while another took the political lead. As an Opposition spokesperson, it was hard to get clarity on things like the accommodation recognition payment and, particularly, the impact on the private rental sector. I hope this Minister will be more forthcoming.

As the Minister said, the whole area of accommodation in respect of international protection and the temporary protective directive has reached huge levels - I believe the Minister cited €1.2 billion as the anticipated spend for this year. Even from a purely financial point of view, it is imperative that we ensure we get better at dealing with things. Decisions are still taking too long, particularly when appeals are involved. I believe it takes 2.5 years on average for non-accelerated procedures.

I hope the Minister will indicate this at some point, but we need a plan for the end of the temporary directive in respect of Ukrainians. It is called "temporary" for a reason. A plan is needed for when that directive ends in March that moves beyond emergency measures for a medium-term and long-term approach that recognises all of the realities.

There is also a need to rethink how information about IPAS accommodation is provided. I thank the Department for answering panicky emails from me and other elected representatives over the past couple of days. Every time a workperson shows up at a vacant site, somebody is on social media saying it is an IPAS centre and then we have to run to departmental officials to seek clarification. I urge the Minister to turn it on its head and inform local elected representatives as soon as negations or conversations take place in respect of these sites. Otherwise, it will get to the point where virtually every empty building in the State will be subject to a query to the Department. Let us be upfront with elected representatives and, just as important, communities.

As we are dealing with Revised Estimates for the Department, I also raise with the Minister an urgent matter related to budget allocations. I raised this issue with him during questions last week. As we speak, domestic violence survivors are being denied access to justice because of problems in accessing civil legal aid. Those seeking to secure a barring order who have a civil legal aid certificate are not able to secure legal representation because of the fees paid to solicitors. There are simply not enough solicitors who will take on the work because of how the fees are currently structured. From responses to parliamentary questions I received this week, it is clear that the number of practitioners on the District Court family law solicitors panel has fallen significantly in most counties over the past year. The overall number of solicitors on the panel went from 528 in January 2024 to 377 in January this year. In Dublin, the number fell from 115 to 85, from 44 to 31 in Galway, from 78 to 60 in Kildare and from 62 to 50 in Wicklow. People working in this area tell me the system just does not work for victims of domestic violence. They have to be rejected by three solicitors before they can go back to the Legal Aid Board. This is a crazy barrier for those seeking to break free of domestic violence. There is worrying anecdotal evidence that many are giving up and returning to abusive and sometimes very dangerous situations. From the Minister's response last week, I am concerned that there is not an acknowledgement of the urgency of the issue for those who need legal aid to secure barring orders. There is no use in the House talking about zero tolerance on the one hand and, on the other, referring to a review of civil legal aid that was established in 2022 when we ask for immediate action on the problem. The kind of response we have been receiving shows no understanding of how big a step it is for someone to seek a barring order. It is not something that can be put off while everything moves at a snail's pace in the Department. The Minister told me recently that he had received the report of the review group of civil legal aid chaired by former Chief Justice Mr. Frank Clarke and that it was being examined. It is three years since this review was initiated. We need urgency. The specific issue I raised needs to be addressed regardless of the wider recommendations of the report. As we are discussing the budgetary allocation for the Department under this motion, it would be appropriate if the Minister addressed this issue and, in particular, whether he will make additional funds available to address this very real problem impacting the safety of victims of domestic violence, whether he will increase the fees to solicitors on the District Court family law solicitors panel to address the crisis and whether he will look at District Court case fees for private family law proceedings and introduce an additional payment for each subsequent adjournment. I am told the absence of an additional payment in these cases for subsequent court appearances is part of the problem in terms of why solicitors are not taking up this work. I would welcome some impetus in the Minister's response.

See this speech in context