Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)

I want to raise an issue concerning domestic abuse. I want to highlight that it is not just confined to what we can see. It is not just bruises, shouting or visible harm; it also includes financial control and economic abuse.The abuser restricts access to money, sabotages employment or leaves victims appearing financially stable on paper, whereas in reality they control all the finances. This form of abuse traps victims' independence and prevents them from seeking justice. Yet our legal aid system, the very system that is meant to protect vulnerable people in these circumstances, still assesses eligibility by income and assets, not by who controls them. Despite recognising coercive control in law, financial abuse remains invisible in practice.

The civil legal aid review group's report published in April, proposes a major redesign but barely touches domestic, sexual or gender-based violence. Domestic violence is only mentioned in passing and domestic, sexual and gender-based violence appear in the glossary but there is no substantive discussion or recommendation. Crucially, there is no reference to financial abuse, economic abuse or coercive control at all. The proposed means test measures income and assets, not access to either of these. Even the exceptional circumstances provision fails to mention domestic or financial coercion. Victims, whose names are on joint accounts or joint mortgages but who cannot touch a cent of what is in those accounts, are told they earn too much for legal aid. On paper they look secure but in reality they are completely powerless.

There is also another side to this that is far too often overlooked. The abuser, often employed or declaring minimal income, qualifies for legal aid while the victim, working and trying to stay independent, is deemed ineligible. The abuser, represented at the State's expense, can drag out proceedings with adjournments and repeated applications. The victim, paying privately, eventually runs out of money and is forced to withdraw. This is not justice. This is a system being used as another form of control. If implemented as drafted, the new framework risks perpetuating exclusion rather than ending it. It creates three failures: a barrier to justice, where victims cannot safely separate or seek protection without legal advice; a misrepresentation of means, joint assets and shared income which hides the real power imbalance; and a failure under the Istanbul Convention and the CEDAW. Ireland must guarantee access to justice for all forms of gender-based violence, including financial abuse.

As I said, domestic abuse is not just physical or emotional. It is often financial, yet our legal aid framework still treats income as if victims can freely access it. I ask the Minister of State to take this back to the Department to clarify whether financial abuse will be recognised under the exceptional circumstances, whether victims of financial and coercive control will be explicitly included in the legal aid framework, and that the legal aid board staff receive training to identify financial and coercive control in their triage model.