Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In principle this group of amendments make a lot of sense. The only concern I would raise is that as we have seen with the Legal Aid Board, there is a huge backlog and the resources available for free legal aid are grossly underfunded. There is a huge waiting list and people find it very hard to access. The principle is good but the resources have to be made available if it is to work. There is no point, mair, a chapaill, agus gheobhair féar as one would say in Irish, in having the facility if people cannot access free legal aid because there are not enough solicitors, or there are not people available or the waiting list is far too long. That can be very frustrating.