Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will speak about free legal aid, which is something very close to my own heart. There is no such thing as free legal aid, and that should be clarified and addressed. The cost of legal aid for family law matters of domestic violence, guardian access and maintenance is a minimum of €130. There is no free legal aid for family law matters aside from child care and child abduction.

Legal aid for such matters must be applied for and can take a number of weeks to be processed, as opposed to with criminal law, where an accused person can request service, have it granted and be appointed with a free legal aid solicitor there and then. The cost of legal aid in family law started at €30 before increasing to €50. In September 2013, it was again increased to €130. This is a significant increase and it was done without consultation with organisations or consideration of people's ability to pay. The cost of legal aid is prohibitive for women seeking protection in domestic violence cases, and that is crucial.

The Minister for Justice and Equality has been implementing changes in Acts dealing with domestic violence that are to be commended and welcomed.If the women these changes are supposed to help cannot afford to access legal representation then these changes are rendered useless and will make little or no change to the serious issue of domestic violence in this country. Where an interim barring order has been granted against an ex-partner a hearing for a barring order must be heard within eight days. This timeframe does not allow the woman to apply for legal aid, have her application processed, pay her fee by postal order, get her pink certificates sent to her and find a solicitor. This means the women often has to represent herself in court at a barring order hearing. That is unacceptable because she is going up against someone who could have abused her, her children are there and she cannot afford the €130. Legal aid costs can be paid in instalments but this can result in a woman having to make an extra payment of up to €20. The cost of getting postal orders, stamps etc. amounts to ten weekly payments of €13. The nearest offices to Carlow are Kilkenny and Portlaoise. The legal aid boards cannot issue the pink certificates required by solicitors to represent a client until the full payment has been made. Some solicitors will see clients for an initial consultation but without these pink certificates they cannot be represented in court. The woman can request a waiver or a reduction but this involves getting a statement of means from a client and providing a letter of support and the process is too long. I am sure the Minister of State has seen the form required to get free legal aid, one of which I have to hand. Applying for legal aid is almost like applying for a mortgage or for local authority housing. It is unfair for the most vulnerable women in our society. There is a perception that there is free legal aid. There is no such thing as free legal aid. Even if a woman applies for the reduction and the waiver, which she rarely gets, it is so long in coming that the person has to either go back home or cannot afford to get it. She has to go back to the environment she wants to leave. This is crucial.

The most vulnerable people in our society are children and women. Will the Minister of State ensure there is free legal aid? I have recently dealt with many of these cases. In Carlow we offer free women's aid and on Friday mornings we give out food parcels from supermarkets to these women. This is an emergency. Women are entitled to free legal aid. When they go for it they are told there is a waiting list and they could be waiting for weeks. That is too long.