Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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9. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to increase the financial and human resources available to the Legal Aid Board to enable persons with disabilities to vindicate their rights in court, in view of the fact that the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022 is close to completing all stages of the legislative process and the decision support service will open thereafter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52429/22]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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What are the Minister's plans to increase the financial and human resources available to the Legal Aid Board? I ask this in particular to enable persons with disabilities to vindicate their rights in court in view of the fact that the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill will be commenced in November 2022, and for the Minister to realise her obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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We continue to support the Legal Aid Board through allocated funding. The board delivers services through directly employed solicitors in its network of law centres around the country and private solicitors from its private practitioner panels.

The board operates a total of 34 full-time law centres along with a number of part-time centres and 20 family mediation centres. Eight of the law centres and family mediation offices are co-located. The board is independent in its functions. I am aware and appreciative of the important work it does. Overall funding amounted to €47.9 million in 2022 and an additional €3 million was allocated in this year's budget to support persons under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act.

It is currently planning its arrangements to provide services under the Act and has made a submission to me for the purpose of creating a private practitioner panel of solicitors to provide this service.

As the Deputy will be aware, the programme for Government commits to commencing the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015, recognising the importance of the much-needed reform that it represents. The Act will bring into effect a new legislative framework to support decision-making by adults with capacity difficulties. It provides for a three-tier framework of decision-making assistance arrangements, co-decision-making agreements and decision-making representation orders.

The 2015 Act also provides for the long-overdue repeal of the Lunacy Regulation (Ireland) Act 1871 and the bringing to an end of the system of wardship for adults. All existing wards of court will be discharged over a three-year period and, if appropriate, they will be transitioned to a decision support arrangement under the Act.

In order to commence the Act, a number of amendments were required. Responsibility for the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015 now rests with my colleague, the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, and his Department. He is progressing the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022 through the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Bill contains those necessary amendments to enable the commencement of the full legislation as soon as possible thereafter. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022 proposes amendments to the provisions of Part 7 of the 2015 Act relating to enduring powers of attorney. When it is commenced, new enduring powers of attorney will be required to be created in accordance with the 2015 Act. It will no longer be possible to create an enduring power under the 1996 Act once Part 7 has been commenced.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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A whole section of the UNCRPD is dedicated to access to justice. While approximately 643,000 people identify as disabled in this country, there were only 73 complaints in 2019 to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, in relation to the Equal Status Act. Maybe there is a lack of awareness as to how this is dealt with or there is confusion about the role of the WRC. People may assume it deals with workplace relations but it actually deals with discrimination in access to goods and services as well.

Free legal aid suggests the service is free but people are expected to make a contribution, which is sometimes significant. According to the National Disability Authority, only half of disabled people of working age are likely to be in employment. A greater concern is the wait time for access to the Legal Aid Board, which was 44 weeks in January 2021. For someone taking a case to the WRC under the Equal Status Act, that is far too long. There is a further anomaly as the Legal Aid Board is precluded from representing people at tribunals such as the WRC. Disabled people cannot afford private legal representation in many cases, whereas employers and businesses can, and this leads to further inequality.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I stress the important work of the Legal Aid Board. A review is under way to identify how the board can support even more people and examine the structures in place, which have never been amended, to increase the number of people who can access the support among those who need it. This new legislation will require additional resources and will require us to ensure legal support is available for people who need it. A sum of €3 million was allocated in this year's budget for that reason. As I mentioned, the Legal Aid Board is making its submission to try to put these resources in place for when the legislation is agreed. To return to a previous point, we will also need additional judges to ensure the legislation can be implemented. Funding is in place and we will have a report from Brigid McManus in a couple of weeks. All this will ensure that when the legislation is up and running, people can have access to justice, whether that means getting support through the Legal Aid Board or being able to go to court when that is necessary. Over time, the funding will need to increase but it is important that we have this money available to start and that when the legislation is passed there is nothing holding it up. This started when I had responsibility for mental health which is a while ago at this stage. It is important that nothing prevents it from progressing.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Extra resources are vital and I welcome that they will be provided. Legal aid should be made available to people who want to take a case for discrimination to the WRC. Perhaps there could be a stand-alone body or a separate division within the WRC under a new name, which would be accessible and clear about what it has to deal with in order that people will know exactly where to go with complaints.

The Minister indicated that wardships will be phased out under the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act. A constituent has told me that her son, who is currently subject to a detention order in a residential setting - we are not quite sure why - is to be made a ward of court in coming weeks or the case will come before a court. Surely that practice should not be continuing now that it is planned to phase out wards of court come November. As the Minister says, it will take about three years to remove all those affected from wardship. That will take considerable legal resources. The practice should not be continuing at this stage. Will the Minister provide clarity on that?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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While I am not aware of the exact details of the case, I know the Minister intends to have the legislation enacted in the coming month. While there might be a lead-in period, the Deputy is right that this legislation will be in place and should be implemented in the early new year, at the latest. Without knowing the details of the case, I am not sure why that would be progressing in that regard.

On what people can access when they go to the Legal Aid Board, a number of areas will be considered in the civil legal aid review chaired by former Chief Justice Frank Clarke. The work has started and the review has members from across the board. They include representatives of marginalised groups, legal practitioners, academics, Department officials and representatives from the Legal Aid Board which currently administers the scheme. The review will examine not only who can access legal aid, funding thresholds, etc., but also other elements. I have no doubt that will be part of the overall review.