Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

To respond to Senator Conway, the suggestion we are making is that the authority includes members from employer and employee representative organisations. This is important because in addition to dealing with legal issues, the authority will also manage people. For this reason, it is important that employers and workers are represented in equal measure on the board.

I would welcome clarification of the reason free legal aid organisations are being excluded from the authority's membership. It is important to have these organisations represented on the authority.